Law enforcement, emergency officials sound off on winter weather response

From sub-zero temperatures and consistent, blowing snow, winter has made its presence felt on numerous occasions in Franklin County.
With these conditions, mo-torists are reminded to be cautious of the roads and maintain safe driving proto-cols. Of course, sometimes winter conditions get the best of drivers and require the assistance of emergency re-sponse personnel.
Fire departments, law en-forcement officers and safety officials strive to make sure that all emergencies are responded to promptly and efficiently, but even they can be susceptible to the conditions.
Hampton and Franklin County officials provided insight to what the winter looks like from their points-of-view, how they maintain a level of safety for their own protection and steps people can take to ensure those pro-fessionals are able to keep both themselves and those they serve as safe as possible.
Law enforcement
For the local police depart-ments and the Franklin Coun-ty Sheriff's Office, protection from winter conditions begins long before the patrol vehicle hits the road. Hampton Police Chief Bob Schaefer said most of the squad cars and SUVs are equipped with all-wheel drive and undergo routine maintenance and tune-ups leading up to the winter.
Read the full story in the February 21 edition.