Area Ambulances Have Difficulty Navigating Winter Weather

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - When you pass an ambulance on the road in Nashville, you may not realize many of them utilize two-wheel drive. It makes navigating our recent winter weather even more difficult.

“If the road’s not clear, the ambulance just won’t go up it,” says Mike Carlton, director of emergency services at Ascension St. Thomas.

None of the Nashville Fire Department’s ambulances have four-wheel drive.

For the fleet servicing St. Thomas’ hospitals, leaders say it can extend the time needed to transfer patients from rural hospitals.

“Response out of Rutherford would usually take us 30 to 40 minutes, something this week has taken us up to 2 hours to make,” says Carlton.

Nashville officials say Metro 911 dispatchers have taken more than eight thousand calls to assist people between Saturday and Thursday morning. They didn’t say precisely how many of those calls were requesting ambulances. It’s an indicator of just how many people may have needed emergency services during the winter storm.