Area agencies prepare for winter weather emergencies

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Agencies are ready to assist if you have an emergency during the snow fall as Topeka Fire and American Medical Response are prepping for work in the cold.

Topeka fire truck chains are checked, ice and snow melts at each station are ready to be distributed and they said you should be prepared too.

“Make sure that you have an adequate amount of salt and sand and a good snow shovel available as well,” said TFD Public Education Officer Alan Stahl.

He recommends people need to be checking their home heating systems and carbon monoxide detectors now. A couple other tips if you’re using space heaters, Stahl said make sure it’s not plugged into a power strip, and stay in the room that it’s in.

“Not everybody’s house’s central heat works as good so we see a lot more space heaters and then other things that have been used to heat, as well as candles. So anytime we have people confined indoors, yeah, we’re going to see more fires,” said Stahl.

Topeka Police Dept. and AMR recommend staying inside if you don’t need to get on the roads. If you must drive, pack an emergency kit with water, food, chargers and blankets.

Antrim said people should call 911 for life threatening emergencies.

“A lot of times we get called for non-emergency things. Sore throats, coughs, just not feeling well so especially in this inclement weather response times are going to be a little longer because of the road conditions and it’s important that we preserve fire, police and ems to get to those true emergencies,” said Antrim.

Topeka fire and police said they are working closely with the city to keep streets clear.

“In cases like this, we have had fire trucks get stuck or places that we can’t get to because of street conditions in the past and they’ve been immediately on our call to assist us,” said Stahl. “Whether that be plowing the way in front of the fire truck or spreading salt down at a fire where we’re spraying water everywhere creating large amounts of ice.”

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