ROANOKE, Va. – With snow-blanketing roofs and ice lining the roads many people’s normal routines come to a halt. But at Roanoke Fire Station 7, it’s a 24/7 commitment regardless of the weather and when a call comes in, it’s always answered.
“It doesn’t stop, you have to show up, we are very good about in case people live maybe an hour or so away, if we start to get weather they will come in the night before because that’s just what their job is and they understand and want to be here,” Travis Meador, Captain with Roanoke City Fire Dept., said.
When severe weather strikes, the challenges intensify. But firefighters have a plan to face the unpredictable.
“Your calls get enhanced, we do talk about some of the different challenges that we have now more so than any other day so we kind of plan for that. We put extra shovels on the truck, extra for our chainsaws if we need to cut trees, extra fuel or something on that. Just to predict the unpredicted.”
First responders all across our region are keeping busy through winter weather events just like this.
as of 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon the Bedford Fire Department had responded to 14 calls, and Virginia State Police reported close to a thousand crashes throughout the Commonwealth– one of those was a seven car pile-up on 581 sending two people to the hospital.
In Campbell County, an SUV collided with a snowplow, trapping two people inside.
“We were at six calls before 9:30 in the morning, that’s through an EMS call, a power line, a couple trees, and then an actual possible fire in northwest territory we went to that”
The slick conditions add another layer of difficulty.
“Especially when you are getting off the truck with all your gear, if we are grabbing cross lays or lines that we are advancing to the house for a fire that adds extra weight to you so slipping and falls happen everybody just like us.”
