FORT SMITH, Ark. — Crews in Sebastian County monitored conditions during Sunday's snowfall but waited until the weather died down to begin the work on the roads.
"We're kind of going to sit and wait for this to actually pass, and then you will actually see us getting to work," Travis Cooper, deputy director for emergency management for Sebastian County, said. "Our crews will be out there heavy working on the roads with the product, the chemicals, and then of course, the plow trucks."
Cooper also mentioned they pretreated the roads and bridges before the weather rolled in. He said the county has had a few accidents due to road conditions.
"We do have our emergency crews out and about responding to 911 calls," Cooper said. "We've had a few crashes, some with injury, most of them are not with injury, just getting off the roadway. This storm is different, in a good way, because we have more snow than we do ice. And so that's very important."
Crews in Crawford County prepped roads early Sunday morning.
Veronica Robbins, emergency management director for Crawford County said they saw a few wrecks around the area, and Arkansas State Police closed off a few hills in the area including Log Town Hill.
"We're just trying to get information out to people that the roads were going to be icy, you know, the best thing people can do for us right now is stay home, stay off the road," Robbins said. "Take your time, there is no place worth getting to or trying to get to and causing you to get in a wreck and hurt yourself or someone else."
Robbins said they have a search-and-rescue team at all hours of the day, monitoring conditions.
"They'll come in, they'll get their chainsaws and all their protective gear, and they'll go out and help," Robbins said. "They'll stand right there alongside the road department and the fire departments and clear roadways."
Both Cooper and Robbins shared tips on how to be safe during cold conditions.
"We always just tell people, you know, keep your car filled and make sure you have three or four days' worth of medication, food, bottled water," Robbins said.
"If you have direct needs, that we may not be able to identify or meet right away, you can always dial 211 as the resource management tool," Cooper said. "Make certain that you give yourself enough time that you allow your vehicle to do what it's supposed to do ... You have to leave cars ahead of you is far greater than what it typically is."
Cooper said expect to see road crews out in the next few days, so use caution.
"If [snow is] falling, we're going to probably take a break, do a lot of crew shift work out on these roadways," Cooper said. "And then of course, tomorrow afternoon, evening, we're going to probably hit it really hard."
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.