Georgia 400 closed; Sandy Springs fire truck, ambulance wreck answering calls

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Georgia 400 closed; Sandy Springs fire truck, ambulance wreck answering

calls

By Marcus K. Garner mgarner@...>

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Icy roads late Friday night and early Saturday took their toll, causing

wrecks even for emergency vehicles, and closing Georgia 400.

As early morning temperatures dipped below the 30s, hundreds of cars

were

lined up on northbound 400 -- after around 12:30 a.m. -- after the

Georgia

Department of Transportation closed the bridge over the Chattahoochee

River.

" They have the bridge on 400 closed to treat for ice, " DOT spokesman

Mark

McKinnon said early Saturday morning. " It had already been treated,

but it

can potentially freeze up again. "

A few miles north, a Rural Metro ambulance was hit and knocked off the

road

shortly after 11 p.m. The ambulance was responding to an accident on

northbound Georgia 400 at the Abernathy Road overpass, Sandy Springs

fire

department Chief Jack McElfish said.

The EMTs in the ambulance were among seven people injured at that

location.

Minutes later, a Sandy Springs ladder truck en route to the ambulance

wreck

was involved in an accident on eastbound I-285 as it neared the 400

junction, fire officials said.

" We've had some people slide into one of our vehicles, " Sandy Springs

fire

marshall Jeff Scarborough said early Saturday morning. " I-285 and 400

are

sheets of ice. "

Scarborough said he was trying to get help from the Georgia Department

of

Transportation.

McKinnon acknowledged problems on 400, and said crews were working to

prevent problems at other overpasses around the area.

" We have been working numerous ice spots on 400, " McKinnon said. " We're

trying not to shut down anything else. We trying to pretreat bridges. "

He said crews will be working through the night and well into the

morning e

to treat area bridges.

The DOT is asking drivers to stay off the roads if they don't have to go

anywhere until icy roads thaw later Saturday morning.

Louis N. Molino, Sr. CET

FF/NREMT/FSI/EMSI

Typed by my fingers on my iPhone.

Please excuse any typos.

(Cell)

LNMolino@...