GREENSBORO, N.C. — Winter weather caused chaos across the Triad on Tuesday morning.
According to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Troop E — which covers parts of Davidson, Montgomery, Forsyth, Stokes, Surry, Davie and Yadkin Counties — responded to 210 calls for service as of 12 p.m. on Tuesday.
That number, according to the Highway Patrol, was more than double the amount of calls it receives on a regular day.
The Greensboro Police Department said that there were 45 weather-related traffic accidents Tuesday morning in the city between 4 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The department said 10 of those accidents caused injuries.
Several incidents occurred on I-40 on Tuesday. In one instance, a fire and rescue truck was hit on the interstate in Davie County. Another accident closed I-40 W in Greensboro from 3 a.m. to around 8 a.m.
In Winston-Salem, a firefighter was injured when a fire truck carrying four people overturned while responding to a call for service. The Winston-Salem Fire Department said the truck overturned after hitting a patch of black ice. The injured firefighter was treated at a local hospital and released.
When the fire truck flipped, officials said a group of citizens mobilized to make sure everyone got out of the wreckage safely.
Guilford County EMS told WFMY News 2 that it responded to 36 crashes between midnight and 8 a.m. and another 25 accidents between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m.
"One of the biggest things for us is we want to make sure that our people can both respond to calls safely, but then go home safely afterward," said Scott Muthersbaugh with Guilford EMS. "We always cover that with our folks where we can't help you if we can't get to the call. So there are times where we would run non-emergency traffic to what would traditionally be an emergency call just because the road conditions affect us just like it affects everybody else."
Asked about preparing for future winter-weather events, Guilford County EMS said the following:
"Coincidentally, it is actually just the beginning of winter weather preparedness week. So we're working hard to kind of push the messages about being safe in winter conditions, whether you're traveling, whether you're at home, there's a lot of things that can be done there. But one of the best things you can do if you live in Guilford County is to sign up for our genie alerts, which is our emergency alert system."
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol urges drivers to increase following distance, reduce speed and stay off the roadways unless necessary during inclement weather.
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