Heavy snowfall this past Saturday meant an onslaught of calls for South Whidbey Fire/EMS and necessitated reduced bus routes and late starts for South Whidbey School District students through mid-week.
Mike Cotton, deputy chief for South Whidbey Fire/EMS, said each of the district’s six stations responded to a slough of calls pertaining to accidents and hazards associated with the snowfall.
He said most concerned downed power lines and fallen trees, but there were also several regarding car collisions or vehicles that had veered off the road, in addition to a marine call in Saratoga Passage and a few medical calls.
“I believe the number was 53 calls on Saturday. Saturday, that one day,” said Cotton, adding that during a normal week responders receive between 30-40 calls.
The total number of calls for the week — Wednesday, Nov. 26 to Wednesday, Dec. 4 — was 96.
“Just north of Greenbank, there was nothing,” he said of the snow and ice. “It was all down here.”
Cotton noted that, while he wouldn’t say the department was overwhelmed, “We definitely had our hands full.”
Each of the district’s four chiefs and all of the troops were on the job and, of the organization’s 50 to 60 volunteers, Cotton estimated that approximately 30 to 40 were called in. Due to the holiday, he said, several others were out of town or unavailable.
South Whidbey Fire/EMS has procedures in place in case of extreme weather such as wind or snow storms, although Cotton said Saturday’s snowfall wasn’t enough to warrant their implementation.
The Island County Department of Emergency Management opened a temporary emergency operations center to help manage the weather incident. Cotton said South Whidbey Fire/EMS heard from the center, Puget Sound Energy, sheriff’s office and the Island County Public Works Roads department.
When Fire/EMS was called to respond to certain incidents such as fallen trees, they tapped the help of county road workers for assistance.
Cotton said Thursday morning that although most of the snow was melted, some roads were still icy, especially those that don’t receive much sunlight or traffic. While roads should be OK by the weekend, it’s a reminder that motorists need to take care driving for several days following a winter snowfall. Hills, he said, can be particularly hazardous, such as Langley, Saratoga and parts of Maxwelton roads. On Wednesday evening around 5 p.m., Cotton said responders were called to a collision on Brooks Hill Road.
“Take it slow. If you don’t have to go out, don’t. Plan your route … take a safer path,” he said.
The inclement weather seemed to have little impact on the South Whidbey School District other than 2-hour late starts Monday through Wednesday.
Dan Poolman, school district transportation supervisor, said school buses were required to drive reduced routes, staying on main roads and avoiding hills and neighborhoods on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Students who live on inaccessible streets are asked to walk to the edge of the street to catch the bus. For example, those on Goss Lake Road had to walk to Andreason or East Harbor roads. There were no reported issues of buses veering off the road or getting stuck.
Poolman also clarified that the late start days don’t count as a lost day, meaning students will not need to make up the hours with an additional year-end school day.
Superintendent Jo Moccia said that schedules were compressed, meaning shorter classes for students, during late start days. Moccia added that, given the fact these late start days are rare, the impact on students and teachers was minimal.
