'They need us': Tow truck operators rescue trapped Santa Fe drivers

Nov. 7—Tow truck driver Chris Manzanares had been on the clock since 2 a.m. Thursday.

The 44-year-old spent much of his day rescuing drivers, many of whom got stuck braving wintry Santa Fe roads after a storm dumped nearly a foot of snow or more in some parts of the city.

Tow truck drivers like Manzanares rose to meet the challenge, scrambling to extract vehicles stuck on snowy streets and in embankments while their drivers tried to reach work or doctor's appointments.

Manzanares, the owner of Coyote Towing, said he would keep responding to emergency calls into the evening or longer. He said his motivation was a sense of duty.

"That's just part of being [in the business] and wanting to help people and getting them help. That's what it is, just being dedicated to help the general public," he said.

"They need us," he added.

By about 2:45 p.m., Manzanares had responded to 10 calls, many in downtown Santa Fe.

A lot of vehicles slid coming down their driveways or got stuck on medians the drivers couldn't see, he said.

Joshua Padilla, owner of Padilla's Towing and Transport, said his four drivers also had responded to about 10 calls as of around 3 p.m. He'd been working since 2:30 a.m., responding to private calls and ones from law enforcement, noting his company covers Rio Arriba County as well.

He said his crew hustled to get out to calls, some of which included rollover crashes and vehicles going over large embankments of snow.

Sometimes his crews find vehicles on their sides or flipped completely or broken down.

"People are cold," he said. "So our goal is to get to that scene of that accident, or scene of a broken-down car, a scene of a car that needs to be pulled out of the mud, snow, and get it out. And that's what we did today."

Padilla said if the roads and volume of calls got bad, his crew would work all night.

Irwin Carrillo, who responded to six calls as of 4 p.m. Thursday, said he'd seen the snow coming and was ready to tackle the higher volume of calls.

While the owner of Carrillo's Towing LLC said he's on call around the clock every day of the year, Carrillo said he was hypervigilant this week and had taken to roving the streets of Santa Fe so he could already be on the road when the next call came in.

"We're expecting a lot of snowfall, which is crazy and good at the same time," he said. "But, hey, we're all for it."

He said his vigilance would extend into Friday, which was also expected to be cold and may see more ice on the roads.

For the most part, tow truck drivers were in agreement — unless it's an emergency, stay home.

Victoria Anaya of Anaya's Roadrunner Wrecker Service said the business had to rescue at least six vehicles Thursday morning, many of which were semitrailer trucks.

Her message to people thinking about taking to the roads?

"It's not worth it," she said.