Jan 28, 2026 By Garrett Neese 4 min read

Several municipalities across Fayette and Washington counties declared a state of emergency ahead of Sunday’s snowstorm and the ongoing cold snap.

Local administrators said the declarations allowed them to line up extra workers and suppliers faster, and potentially enable them to get reimbursement later for their expenses.

In a normal situation, hiring outside workers or making purchases like salt outside their normal vendors would require a time-consuming bid process, said Joe Manning, borough manager for Charleroi.

The storm hit right after Charleroi had already made a sizable salt purchase. But they did end up supplementing their regular works crew. The borough hired three private contractors with tri-axle dump trucks and skid steers, which cleared the streets and dropped the snow off at various out-of-the-way locations.

North Strabane Township’s emergency declaration went into effect Saturday night and ended at 7 a.m. Monday. Manager Andrew Walz said the township didn’t wind up needing to reach out for additional workers or salt; the public works department made four or five passes over the township roads. However, he liked the flexibility the declaration created.

“Our guys really handled it well, and they’re still out handling it, and it’s working very well,” he said.

Municipalities were also tallying the amount they had to spend on overtime or extra supplies.

By declaring an emergency, the township might also be able to get some of that money back if the county-wide totals rose to the level of getting reimbursement from the state or federal emergency management agencies, Walz said.

The cost of the additional vehicles was worked out ahead of time, Manning said. Other costs are still adding up: Charleroi’s public works crew is pulling 12-hour shifts, which results in automatic overtime.

While Manning wasn’t sure how much the borough had incurred so far, “my public works superintendent is keeping very meticulous records,” he said.

Uniontown Mayor Bill Gerke said the city would also be looking to receive federal funds to compensate for the added expenses. So far, Uniontown had not needed to outsource work or supplies, he said.

Public works staff had been out continually since Sunday clearing the roadways, he said. They’d cleared the major roads, and were working Tuesday afternoon on the alleys.

“Our public works department, with a limited staff that we do have, is doing an outstanding job,” he said.

Cities can declare emergencies for up to five days before they decide whether to renew; townships and boroughs can go up to seven.

Local administrators say they’re continuing to watch the situation.

Manning said as department heads prepared for the storm, they also looked at the potential effects of the cold snap, whether frozen pipes or roofs buckling under the weight of unmelted snow.

“I’ve been trying to monitor every media site and everything I can to stay on top of the weather,” Manning said. “For now, we just anticipate that it would just run the seven days that’s in the proclamation, and that would be the end of it.”

The emergency statute allows for municipalities to set curfews and prohibit travel in restricted areas. A message at Connellsville’s administrative office said travel restrictions enacted Saturday permitted only essential workers on the road. Responding to commenters on a Facebook post announcing the emergency declaration, Mayor Greg Lincoln clarified that all workers would be able to go to their jobs.

Other administrators interviewed Tuesday said they had decided not to restrict travel, but told residents to be mindful of safety.

“What we ask our residents to do is be patient and try to try to get your car off of the street, if at all possible, so we can get down and make a wider path for the cars to get through,” Gerke said.

Manning said Charleroi had put an advisory to people to stay off the roads through their Savvy Citizen app, which the borough encourages residents to use to receive updates from the borough.

Walz said the gravity of an emergency declaration also has the benefit of stressing to the public that the weather situation requires their attention.

“The residents and the general public really got this, and they worked with the township,” he said. “We thank the residents for doing that. It makes everybody’s job a lot easier whenever the public understands that, ‘Hey, this is going to be a serious situation.'”