Heavy snowfall on Christmas Eve means more upkeep and ploughing of Helsinki's streets is needed.
According to Ville Alatyppö from Stara, the city's own street maintenance service provider, Helsinki's streets are being ploughed by a relatively small team during the Christmas holiday days, but more workers will be called in if necessary.
“We have about 250 people on standby. Yesterday, we worked 12-hour shifts in order to clear away the first snows,” says Alatyppö, who heads Stara's street maintenance unit.
Responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the Helsinki’s streets is divided between the city and property owners.
Alatyppö says the city’s main streets are cleared first, along with significant places such as graveyards. (Visiting graves on Christmas Eve to pay respects to those who have passed is an important Finnish tradition.) After that, smaller streets are taken care of next.
He says that most staff are happy to work on Christmas, especially now that the long-awaited snow has arrived, just in time for Christmas.