It’s been a rough few days for Brown County emergency responders as an ice storm covered the area Monday night and as of Thursday night, was not thawing out completely.
Since Monday until 8:00am Thursday, dispatchers reported 119 calls for service in all of Brown County. Of these, 31 were motor vehicle accidents mostly due to poor road conditions. Reports indicated that more accidents occurred through Thursday due to the icy roads that were not yet included in this number.
“This number may seem small but DPS troopers and Sheriff’s deputies do not report vehicles that slid off the road as accidents,” stated Brownwood Assistant Chief of Police James Fuller. “Stranded motorists were simply pulled out and sent on their way.”
Fuller went on to say that BCSO deputies reported that they seemed to be constantly pulling vehicles out of the ditches throughout the week.
“Overall, emergency responders in our area did an excellent job,” stated Fuller.
At midday Thursday, local law enforcement, fire department and DPS troopers were continuing responding to several more calls, including two separate rollover accidents. One of these was south of Brownwood on US 377 and the other on US 67 between Brownwood and Bangs (pictured above).
The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a notice late Thursday afternoon that a portion of US 84 running from Coleman to Lawn was actually closed due to the high volume of traffic accidents, jack knifed trucks and vehicles stranded on the icy road. This highway was deemed “impassable” and it was expected to take hours for DPS and Texas Department of Transportation work to get traffic moving again.
Motorists were again warned and urged not to travel unless absolutely necessary due to the icy conditions that continue to plague the area. Although roads seemed to be clearing up there continued to be dangerous patches of ice and “black ice” present.
