"It's pretty miserable": Emergency crews helping people cope in extreme temperatures
BOSTON - Emergency crews are busy helping people cope in extreme cold temperatures. They are reminding people to cover up, check on neighbors and check on the most vulnerable.
WBZ rode along with Boston EMS Superintendent of Operations Leonard Shubitowski Friday. He responded to calls to help homeless people at the area known as Mass and Cass, and the Public Garden.
"Those people are out on the street a lot, and they generally are under-clothed in terms of the weather," said Shubitowski. "The minute you stop moving, you stop generating any internal heat, those things go away."
When a crew responded to a vehicle accident on Charles Street, the priority was to get the driver into a warm ambulance quickly, even though she was not hurt. "It gets everybody inside quickly and out of this environment because the environment...being out there for five minutes, it's pretty miserable," said Shubitowski.
Experts say it only takes five minutes for exposed skin to develop the first signs of frostbite.