January 29, 2002 * 02-08-01

Four days of freezing temperatures and snowfall have kept firefighters busy with a number of weather-related incidents but, thanks to good luck and the use of safety devices, most haven't resulted in serious injuries.

According to North Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews, Saturday morning was the busiest so far with firefighters responding to as many as 10 car crashes in a 4-hour period. None of those incidents -- many involving rollovers -- seriously hurt the cars' occupants, firefighters say, largely because the drivers and passengers were properly restrained. In one incident, a 34 year-old Hansville woman and her 20 month-old son were transported to Harrison Memorial Hospital as a precaution after the woman lost control of their late-model SUV on the Hansville Highway at Weaver Pass at around 10:30am. The car suffered serious damage, rolling over three times before coming to rest on its top, and leaving the woman hanging from her lap and shoulder restraint. The child was apparently protected by his car seat. The family's 3 year-old Rottweiler mix -- the only occupant who wasn't buckled in at the time of the crash -- either bolted through a broken back window or was ejected during the rollover; the woman told crews that she first spotted the dog outside the car after the crash. NKF&R's duty chief transported the apparently-uninjured animal to be examined at the Apple Tree Cove Veterinary Hospital in Kingston.