Storm Creates Problems for S.C. Emergency Workers

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. --

More than a dozen times on Tuesday, a 911 call came in that Lancaster County paramedics could not get to with an ambulance.

Snow-covered roads on Monday caused few problems, but Tuesday was a different story.

"The back roads and less-traveled roads are still very icy," said Lancaster County firefighter Darren Player. “It's hard to get emergency vehicles to houses in some of those places."

That's why early this morning, county firefighters switched to snow duty. They stationed their four-wheel drive pickup trucks across the county so they can quickly respond and get to patients when an ambulance can't.

"Sometimes we're having to use our trucks to transport that person to an ambulance, rather than the ambulance coming actually to that house," said County Fire Marshal Stephen Blackwelder.

Blackwelder spent much of Tuesday in the Indian Land area on Highway 521. He responded to several calls in the nearby Sun City community.

That's where Dieter Kluge lives. On Tuesday afternoon, he was outside with a shovel, trying to scrape a thick sheet of ice from his frozen driveway.

Next door, his neighbor carried a large pitcher of water outside, pouring it on his driveway to melt away the ice.

Several people trying to shovel their driveways have fallen and seriously hurt themselves.

Kluge, from upstate New York, said the conditions are no big deal to him, but he worries about what happens if someone calls 911 and paramedics can't reach the area.

"That just should not be, should not happen," Kluge said.

However, like most counties, there simply aren't resources to plow every road, or even prepare every road, ahead of a winter storm.

That leads to problems when dispatchers get a 911 call from a street that's still packed in ice.

Firefighters spent Tuesday picking up people from their homes and carrying them to ambulances that park as close as they can.

Another issue is simply standing, walking on black ice and carrying someone to a waiting ambulance. They often struggle just to keep their balance.

"Instead of two people moving that stretcher or that patient, it's taking four people, maybe even six, to do that," Blackwelder said.

Firefighters expect to continue responding to emergency calls throughout the night.

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