During the recent ice storm that crashed through Lane County, Eugene Springfield Fire saw a near triple increase in its emergency call volume. Many requests for help were for falls.
According to the ESF department, Emergency Medical Service crews responded to 1,341 incidents from Sunday to Wednesday and 2,400 individual units were dispatched. Both Sunday and Monday broke the record for the number of calls in a single day with 281 calls and 316 calls respectively (the previous record was 260 calls.)
In addition to welfare checks and fire calls, EMS crews responded to hundreds of slip-and-fall injuries.
Fire Chief Mike Caven said the surprising thing was the number of falls that didn’t need to happen. “One of my paramedics was telling me yesterday that they took care of someone who had fallen who just wanted to step outside and see how slick it actually was,” he said.
Caven said emergency medics treated and transported patients with hip and pelvic fractures, broken arms and wrists. PeaceHealth Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield reported the patient load in the ER was 25% above normal from Monday to Thursday.
