MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Two Missouri firefighters, realizing that icy road conditions were going to make it difficult to take an injured woman to the hospital, improvised and pushed the woman on a stretcher 1 mile to the emergency room, KSDK reported.
A photograph of the two first responders pushing the patient to the hospital has since gone viral, the television station reported.
"We just had to deal with it and kind of make do with that we had," Shaylor Taetz told KSDK.
Two Maryland Heights firefighters pushing a stretcher on the icy roads to get a woman to safety. We'll share the wild rescue behind this photo on #TISL @ksdknews pic.twitter.com/IqsvcJzrJ9
— Jenn Sullivan (@JennSullivanTV) February 11, 2019
Taetz and his partner were called to a crash on I-270 on Sunday morning, but the slick roads made navigation difficult.
"It was pretty bad. Even driving there we had to take it really slow," Taetz told KSDK.
Taetz’s vehicle slid on the interstate and hit a guardrail, so they decided the fastest -- and safest -- way to transport the woman injured on the bus was to do it on foot.
"We realized how icy the roads were because they were progressively getting worse as the morning went on," Taetz told KSDK.
The firefighters avoided drivers trying to maneuver around them, and braved several hills before delivering the woman to an area hospital, the television station reported.
"The stretcher definitely lost traction. It wasn't willing to work with us as much as possible," Taetz told the television station. "We did cover her up because it was sleeting or icing and we made sure that not of that was hitting her in the face."
Paramedics said the woman did not suffer any serious injuries, KSDK reported.
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