Emergency responders in Central Texas busy with calls in winter weather

Austin, Texas – First responders have been very busy with the weather, dealing with everything from downed power lines to car accidents and falls on ice.

“It’s full spectrum, you know,” said Capt. Darren Noak of Austin-Travis County EMS.

“Call volume is quite high. Dispatchers have sent about 945 calls since midnight,” said Bob Nix, president of the Austin Firefighters Association.

Noak says they had about 350 incidents the first day of the storm, and more than 600 the next day. First they had more traffic accident calls, then more falls and ice injuries.

“Falls on ice can become very serious and even fatal if you slip, fall and hit your head,” Noak said.

He also says people called 911 when the medical equipment wasn’t working.

“If someone feels they need medical help so badly and needs to call 911, they certainly can. We have alternative dispositions and alternative vehicles and resources that we can either send or link to these people. So we are.” “You don’t have to send an ambulance to every one of these calls. Obviously, we are trying to reserve our fleet of ambulances for more serious and life-threatening injuries and illnesses,” Noak said.

Both agencies have increased staff.

“We’ve had a lot more calls than usual, probably three or four times what we usually do, but nothing major other than a power outage so far,” Nix said.

He says they respond to calls ranging from fires to broken water pipes to traffic accidents.

When he spoke to FOX 7 on Wednesday afternoon, there were about 270 calls about arcing.

First responders are also reminding people that broken traffic lights should be treated as four-way stops.

“This is very important, especially when we start moving at night, it can be very dangerous,” Noack said.

Officials say the safest thing you can do is stay inside. Give heaters plenty of space, don’t use an oven for heating, and keep generators outside.