In what is believed to be a first for the city, the Chicago Fire Department is using snowmobiles to reach residents trapped by a massive winter storm this week, according to The Chicago Tribune.
The city obtained a fleet of 50 snowmobiles, which were sent to half of the department's 100 firehouses after the snowfall.
The vehicles have been used to reach people on streets ambulances or fire trucks are unable to access, Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff told the newspaper.
Patients were transported in baskets pulled by the snowmobiles to nearby ambulances.
The department used the snowmobiles more than a hundred times.
"It worked out really well," Hoff said.
