A mix of rain and freezing temperatures this week created treacherous road conditions for drivers in Warren County and the surrounding area.Bad weather on Wednesday especially led to a number of motor vehicle crashes, with several of the incidents on Interstate 70. For the emergency personnel who have to respond to those crashes, aiding the victims comes with its own risk.“It’s scary as h---. You’ve got people on the interstate that don’t pay attention, and you have road conditions that are not ideal,” said Warrenton Fire Chief Mike Owenby.As firefighters, medical staff, police officers and towing crews work on the interstate, cars continue to fly by at 70 mph, Owenby said. Or worse, some drivers slow down to take pictures with their phones, creating the risk of another crash while they're not paying attention. It’s scary enough when the road is dry, but Owenby said bad weather makes it a hundred times worse.“I pray to God that nobody gets hurt. That’s why we park our (firetrucks) in the way, to protect ourselves,” Owenby explained. “That interstate is probably the worst thing we will ever deal with.”He added that when conditions are bad, responders clear occupants and debris from the interstate as quickly as possible and leave the crashed vehicles on the side of the road, marked with caution tape. Tow trucks aren’t called to remove them immediately because it would create more risk of accidents and injuries.The round of freezing rain Wednesday afternoon and evening brought  firefighters out to at least five weather-related crashes, four of which were on I-70. Multiple crashes on the interstate involved tractor-trailers.Wright City Assistant Fire Chief Josh Riebe said his department and Warrenton Fire often respond jointly to such incidents. Firefighters have traffic management training and gear for directing drivers, he said, but working such a busy road remains unpredictable."We have pride in our training, but there's no way to predict the weather or drivers in those conditions," Riebe said.The upside for the weather incidents this week is that there weren't any reports of serious injuries as of Thursday afternoon. Warren County Ambulance Administrator Ralph Hellebusch said two people were assisted for minor injury complaints, and several others declined treatment.He went on to say that the number of vehicle crashes tends to decrease after the first few weather-related crashes.“What you’ll see is that after you get that first one, (drivers) kind of get the smarts on how to drive in that stuff. You get fewer and fewer slide offs,” Hellebusch said.During crash response on the interstate, law enforcement officers at the scene can take on varying roles of collecting information, controlling traffic and giving first aid. The job often falls to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, but  local police agencies are also called to assist.Wright City Police Chief Matt Eskew said every time officers are on the interstate is a different situation, but it always comes with risk.“When you take tons of metal and push it down the interstate at a high rate of speed, it’s absolutely dangerous,” Eskew said.When possible, he said responders try to provide advance warning and slow traffic by placing a vehicle with active lights up the road from the crash.“Moving down the interstate, when (drivers) see the police car they move over, and that bottleneck slows traffic ... and reduces some of that risk for officers at the crash scene,” Eskew explained.

Emergency personnel from Wright City and Warrenton responded to a truck rollover on I-70 west of Stracks Church Road Wednesday, Feb. 21, around 12:50 p.m. Several other crashes that day were attributed to winter weather conditions.

Warrenton Fire Protection District photo.