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Key services planning for blizzard

From a major suburban garbage collector to a utility such as ComEd, the projected blizzard over the next couple of days has key service providers getting their game plans in place.

Groot Industries Inc. workers have been instructed to report for duty as usual for their trash collection routes Wednesday morning, said municipal affairs manager Frank Hillegonds.

Hillegonds said plans are for Groot to assess the weather as Wednesday progresses. If the conditions become too dangerous, he said, the crews will be pulled off their routes and pickups delayed by a day, similar to a holiday week.

Elk Grove Village-based Groot, which is Illinois’ largest independent solid waste management services provider, will not skip any residential collections in towns where it has contracts.

“You’ve got to think about the public,” Hillegonds said. “You’ve got to think about the customers. You’ve got to think about safety.”

ComEd employees have been keeping tabs on the weather predictions through a variety of sources, spokeswoman Krissy Posey said. ComEd relies the most on the National Weather Service.

Whether ComEd’s emergency command center in Joliet will be activated won’t be determined until the snow forecast is further updated, said Posey. A team would assemble in the command center and direct crews across the region day and night.

“Right now, we’re truly in a monitoring stance,” Posey said Monday.

AT&T spokeswoman Brooke Vane said the company already had contingency plans in place before the blizzard forecast. Those plans include providing backup power for AT&T’s system and implementing a full-scale emergency response plan over many states.

“Our plans allow us to quickly leverage the size and resources of AT&T,” Vane said.

Although Nicor Gas typically isn’t affected by wild weather because its pipes are buried, spokesman Richard Caragol said the utility will have crews ready to roll from regional facilities.

Caragol stressed Nicor Gas will respond to any reported problems around the clock, no matter how bad the weather.