ROLLA, Mo. – First responders with the Doolittle Rural Fire Protection District were exhausted Wednesday night after spending the past day helping stranded drivers, responding to crashes and detouring motorists.
“We were out for almost 24 hours,” said Chief Brandon Williams of the Doolittle Rural Fire Protection District.
First responders like Greg Long, a district firefighter, said that he had about three hours of rest.
At one point, backups stretched for 20 miles.
Williams said many of the crashes involved tractor-trailers. He believes a high number of out-of-town drivers were traveling to southwest Missouri Wednesday morning for events, such as graduation.
Williams noted that, in some cases, drivers rely on their GPS to detour around the interstate closure, only to be sent on side roads that were not plowed. Some drivers were stuck for hours.
“We probably turned around at least 200 to 300 vehicles,” Williams said.
The Doolittle Rural Fire Protection District is a volunteer fire department. Williams said in some cases, members of the department were filling up the gas tanks of cars for stranded drivers.
“All of us here, we have a good heart,” Long said.
Williams hopes that in the future, drivers will avoid traveling during a winter storm if possible. He stated that the backups are a reminder of why it’s a good idea to keep emergency supplies in your vehicle while traveling.