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As officials closed the Interstate Bridge on Tuesday, they reported angry motorists giving them the finger.
But giving someone the finger took on a different meaning for officials in charge of the bridge Thursday when a Buffalo County, Wis., woman needed ambulance service after cutting off three fingers in a saw accident.
The woman’s emergency forced emergency personnel to test their barricade moving skills, according to emergency radio dispatches and emergency services, who reported the incident shortly before 11 a.m.
Winona Area Ambulance Service responded to the incident and met the woman on the Wisconsin side of the bridge. No further details were available Thursday about the woman’s identity, her condition or the incident. WAAS was the only agency to respond to the call and Director Karla Eppler cited privacy laws in not revealing more about the patient or the incident.
But the ambulance made it through the barricades and across the closed bridge “without problem,” Eppler said.
MnDOT, emergency agency and city of Winona officials discussed options Wednesday to establish a way to remove the barricades on the bridge before emergency vehicles got there, so as not to slow down their response times, Eppler said. Officers could be dispatched ahead of the ambulance or fire truck to move the barricades and replace them once the vehicles pass, she said.
Assistant Fire Chief Jim Multhaup, who was present at the entrance to the Interstate Bridge on the Minnesota side around the time of the finger incident, said the ambulance call “worked well.”
Crews were able to move the barricades on Winona Street to allow the ambulance access to the closed bridge.
See bridge, page 4A
He said the barriers can slow down emergency response times but it’s better than calling another agency from a much greater distance.
“For our purposes, we’re going to make it work,” he said. “It’s an inconvenience but it’s a whole lot less inconvenient than what everyone else is dealing with.”
MnDOT officials said emergency responders will continue to be allowed to cross the bridge, which remains closed to the public indefinitely.
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
