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* Quick thaw unlikely.
Public safety officials have scrambled to keep pace with the recent arctic blast, responding to numerous wrecks on ice-glazed roads and other winter weather-related incidents.
From 5 p.m. Thursday until about 4 p.m. Friday, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office handled nearly 160 wrecks, about seven with injuries.
And spokeswoman Karleen Chalker said authorities were not immune to the dangers brought on by the wintry precipitation and below freezing temperatures.
Two sheriff’s vehicles were involved in wrecks and a deputy en route to a call was injured when he slipped on ice and hit his head.
Chalker said there were also several reports of overturned vehicles.
Forsyth County Fire Capt. Jason Shivers said emergency personnel kept busy responding to the wrecks, as well as various reports of people injured by slipping and falling on the ice.
“We had no fires, fortunately,” he said.
In perhaps the most severe incident so far, an 11-year-old passenger was hospitalized Thursday night after a vehicle slid into a ditch on Spot Road.
Chalker said the boy was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
The driver of the vehicle, 30-year-old Amanda Jolene Ward of Maysville, and another passenger were taken to North Fulton Hospital, where they were treated and released.
Chalker did not know the second passenger’s age, but said he was a minor. Both children are Ward’s.
The three were traveling south in a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt on Spot Road near Doc Bramblett Road about 5:30 p.m. when Ward lost control of the car in a curve.
“It spun all the way around and crossed over into the northbound lane, slid off the roadway and the rear of the vehicle hit a tree,” Chalker said.
No other vehicles were involved in the wreck.
Robin Martin lives on Spot Road, just across from where the wreck happened.
She said the road was already icy at 4:30 p.m. when she and her sons Josh and Jonathan came home.
Though none of them saw what happened, they weren’t surprised.
“We have wrecks here all the time when it’s icy. It’s bad here," said Martin, adding that many of the wrecks have been fatal.
From 5 p.m. Thursday until about 4 p.m. Friday, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office handled nearly 160 wrecks, about seven with injuries.
And spokeswoman Karleen Chalker said authorities were not immune to the dangers brought on by the wintry precipitation and below freezing temperatures.
Two sheriff’s vehicles were involved in wrecks and a deputy en route to a call was injured when he slipped on ice and hit his head.
Chalker said there were also several reports of overturned vehicles.
Forsyth County Fire Capt. Jason Shivers said emergency personnel kept busy responding to the wrecks, as well as various reports of people injured by slipping and falling on the ice.
“We had no fires, fortunately,” he said.
In perhaps the most severe incident so far, an 11-year-old passenger was hospitalized Thursday night after a vehicle slid into a ditch on Spot Road.
Chalker said the boy was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
The driver of the vehicle, 30-year-old Amanda Jolene Ward of Maysville, and another passenger were taken to North Fulton Hospital, where they were treated and released.
Chalker did not know the second passenger’s age, but said he was a minor. Both children are Ward’s.
The three were traveling south in a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt on Spot Road near Doc Bramblett Road about 5:30 p.m. when Ward lost control of the car in a curve.
“It spun all the way around and crossed over into the northbound lane, slid off the roadway and the rear of the vehicle hit a tree,” Chalker said.
No other vehicles were involved in the wreck.
Robin Martin lives on Spot Road, just across from where the wreck happened.
She said the road was already icy at 4:30 p.m. when she and her sons Josh and Jonathan came home.
Though none of them saw what happened, they weren’t surprised.
“We have wrecks here all the time when it’s icy. It’s bad here," said Martin, adding that many of the wrecks have been fatal.