By Max Nickel
During the week of January 20th, 2025, the community of Monroe County experienced exceedingly rare winter weather conditions, facing icy roads, snowfall, and below-freezing temperatures. Monroe County Schools implemented alternative learning schedules from Monday, January 20th, to Thursday, January 23rd, shutting down in-person operations for nearly the entirety of the school week. Slippery and frosty roads in regions like the High Falls area led to the urging of residents to stay off of the roadways and proceed with extreme caution if driving was absolutely necessary. On January 23rd, temperatures rose above freezing, aiding in the melting of the abundant snow and drying of icy roads, but refreezing occurred later in the day as temperatures once again fell.
When asked if this was the most significant snowfall she’d had to deal with while working in Georgia, Monroe County Emergency Services Captain and Public Information Officer Christina Bramlett shared, “For me personally, no. I am actually a Yankee- I grew up in Buffalo, New York, so not at all a lot of snow. For Monroe County, probably within the last, maybe, 10 years, it would be some significant snowfall, but I believe there was a blizzard that came through here between 10 and 12 years ago that had more snow than what we just did. The biggest problem we had was ice, more so than the snow.”
Knowing ahead of time that the storm was on its way, Monroe County Emergency Services made sure to enact special policies and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to maximize preparation and response. “We recalled more personnel, instituted having more chainsaws and road recovery machines available on all the apparatus, and made sure that all of our volunteers had the equipment that they needed to help open closed roadways as needed,” Bramlett stated. When asked if responders were held over from the previous shift or if new staff were brought in, she responded that MCES did in fact utilize additional staff.
“Thankfully, we had very few medical calls (compared to what) we would normally receive. I think people were mitigating what they needed at home,” Bramlett mentioned. “We did receive more calls from people being stuck on the roadways, trying to figure out how to make their way through the area. They were usually just frozen either on back roads or on the interstate and couldn’t get to where they needed to go.”
Unfortunately, MCES experienced an ambulance crash during the emergency. “Thankfully, the crew was not injured at all,” Bramlett was relieved to share. “They were attempting to come off of the exit ramp, a tractor trailer ahead of them started sliding, and in their attempt to stop they slid into the back of that tractor trailer.” MCES’ capabilities were fortunately not significantly hampered by losing a frontline unit, as a backup unit was easily pulled into service following the accident. “We do thankfully have several reserve ambulances that we were able to switch that crew into,” Bramlett added.
Knowing ahead of time and having to make ready for unusual and potentially detrimental conditions, MCES had to utilize appropriate procedures and policy changes to sufficiently handle the storm.
“I believe we were very prepared,” Bramlett stated. “There was not any situation that we could not handle.
I believe we did a great job at mitigating any calls for service.” With the possibility of these types of severe storms becoming more common in our area, suitable capabilities and improved approaches are necessary for our emergency services to be as prepared as possible. When asked which changes, if any, she would implement to be better prepared next time, Bramlett shared, “We’re always looking to improve in any way that we can, but at this time, I believe that with our leadership, our manpower, and our ability to mitigate as we need to, that we’ll continue to respond as always.”
Residents stranded on the highway for hours on end were some of the most intensely impacted by the multi-day weather situation. “Hundreds and hundreds (of people were trapped on the highway),” Bramlett mentioned. “I believe we had 3 significant incidents. One was at 75 Northbound, about a mile and a half before Johnstonville Road, one was 475 Southbound, and the other was Smith Road, which was a back road where people were trying to get around and ended up getting stuck. We had probably 15 calls for assistance from people stuck on the highway. We did not commit any apparatus to the interstate unless it was a vehicle accident. Just getting people unstuck was not a call that we were responding to.”
Bobbie Lea Fesmire of Locust Grove was one of those unlucky residents who was unfortunately frozen on the highway for 14 hours. “I was stuck on I-75 N coming home from a shift at work in Warner Robins,” she stated. “I picked my kids up from daycare at 5:00 PM, and I got stuck at the first exit at 7:00 PM. I did not get unstuck until 9:00 AM the following day.”
“I feel like the roads were prepared about 5%,” Fesmire shared. When asked what MCES could’ve done to earn a higher rating, she expressed, “They said that it was primed the days beforehand, but they ended up blocking the interstate at 7:00 PM due to multiple cars sliding off, so I feel like they should’ve used a stronger treatment on the roads. I also feel like the GDOT should’ve done a better job with informing people about why the interstate was at a dead stop. They didn’t post until the following morning on why the whole interstate was blocked off.”
Feasmire was stranded on I-75 for those 14 hours with her 3 children. “My advice to anybody, especially people with children, is to make sure you come prepared for any circumstances,” she recommended. “Packed clothes, diapers, snacks, drinks, blankets- anything that you might need to survive overnight.”
Feasmire’s troubles unfortunately did not end at the interstate. “When I finally got off the interstate from Forsyth, I turned around in the medium, went down southbound, got off the nearest exit, and went back roads from Versailles to Locust Grove. It took me 3 hours. I got stuck from sliding off the road one time and I had to get pulled out.”
This roughly week-long period marked an infrequent but deeply impactful weather event in the modern history of Monroe County. In addition to nearly a full week of rare snow days, the icy roads, frozen highways, and below-freezing temperatures impacted countless residents, like Feasmire, county-wide. Emergency professionals such as Captain Bramlett helped to assist and serve those residents to the best of their ability, in what became an unprecedented emergency situation.
