Idaho Falls airport preparing for the return of winter weather

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI)- Like it or not, snow is on the way, and the facilities crew at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport is ready.

Facilities manager Kenny Buttars says they take the job seriously.

"We don't want any delays," Buttars said. "We don't want any, you know, anybody to say, 'Well, it was your problem, your fault', you know, because we have a reputation that we don't close here. We stay open here."

Several large pieces of equipment, more than 44 thousand pounds of sand, salt, and other materials standby to keep the runways, sidewalks, and parking lot nonslippery.

When it comes to preparing for snowy weather, Buttars says that prep can start as early as a week before the storm.

"So if we need, you know, additional cover, or if we have to stay overnight or if it's, you know, our weather's coming, it can be slick," Buttars said. "You know, we'll pre-treat our runway so we can keep the slickness down to a minimal, we have people checking the runway, you know, every hour and depends on runway conditions. It's every 30 minutes or more, depending on what's out there."