Maryland Quint Stranded in Snowdrift

ADAMSTOWN, Md. -- On Wednesday just after noon, firefighters in a Quint responded to a house fire in rural Frederick County.

They never made it. During a whiteout on the country road, the truck from Carroll Manor Volunteer Fire Company went into a snowdrift.

That's where it remains.

But, that's not the only thing that got stuck in that mega drift. A county roads truck and a front-end loader also got hung up, said Ed Arnold, president of CMVFC.

The company's four-wheel-drive utility vehicle also got stuck. "A farmer driving a big John Deere tractor got it out, and pulled it all the way back to the station last night."

The crew that left the station for the call at 12:12 p.m. finally returned just after 7 p.m. -- minus the Quint.

"I've never seen drifts like that here," Arnold said, adding that they had no choice but to leave the vehicle in the drift overnight.

He said the call that the crew was headed to turned out to be a closed damper on a fireplace.

Nearby, two motorists were stranded in their vehicles overnight before they could be rescued.

Also in Frederick County, Maryland State Police and military helicopters were flying over an area off U.S. 340 near Brunswick searching for motorists that may be stranded or wandered away from their vehicles.

Troopers were walking the highway as well checking vehicles.

The area received between 35-40 inches of snow last weekend, and another two feet on Tuesday and Wednesday.