AUSTIN, Texas — Austin-Travis County EMS responded to nearly 360 911 calls in the past 24 hours.
From midnight to midnight on Thursday, ATCEMS received 17 environmental incident response calls and 28 cold weather shelter transport calls. None of the 359 total calls were in regard to carbon monoxide exposure.
ATCEMS said that in collaboration with HOST and Capital Metro, they proactively visited with people experiencing homelessness and were able to take between 300 and 400 people to the cold weather shelter intake processing center.
ATCEMS single responder units directly transported 28 people and four dogs to cold weather shelters and warming centers. Only one EMS ambulance was used for transport to cold weather shelters.
In some cases, people chose not to relocate, according to ATCEMS. Their locations were recorded and routine follow-ups are being made in case they decide to move to a cold weather shelter or warming center.
On Saturday morning, ATCEMS is expected to release the incident summary for Friday, Dec. 23.
Friday afternoon the Hard Freeze Warning was extended through 10 a.m. on Christmas morning for most of the Central Texas area. The KVUE Storm Team predicts temperatures will get above freezing Saturday afternoon but will plunge back into the 20s early on Dec. 25.