When the emergency shelter in Fairplay ran out of blankets Saturday night, volunteers went door-to-door collecting extras from locals.
When the hotels ran out of rooms, managers let stranded travelers sleep in the lobbies. When the shelter’s cots were full, volunteers spread out the high school’s wrestling mats to try to keep as many people as possible off the floor.
“Words don’t even describe what this small group of volunteers pulled off here,” said Dave Kintz, chairman of the South Park Salvation Army.
More than 700 people were stranded in Fairplay on Friday and Saturday after high winds, blowing snow and low visibility made travel impossible at the height of the post-Thanksgiving rush and closed a long stretch of U.S. 285, which remained closed along the Kenosha Pass on Sunday.
A group of volunteers stepped in to help manage the crowd as the sheer quantity of those stranded strained local resources.
The town of 762 people sheltered 300 people overnight Friday and 446 people on Saturday, said Gene Stanley, director of emergency management for Park County. Authorities also rescued motorists from at least 30 cars that were stranded along U.S. 285 on Saturday, reaching the drivers by using tracked vehicles.
“They absolutely could not move,” Stanley said. “I think the last rescue vehicle came into my office just before midnight.”
The county’s primary shelter, a community center, was designed to hold 50 people — but 112 people stayed there Friday, until the power went out and the shelter lost heat, forcing everyone to relocate to South Park High School.
“It grew into a larger event than we had expected,” Stanley said.
Fairplay’s few hotels filled up on Friday, said Dee Patel, a manager at A Riverside Inn. After all 50 of her rooms were booked, she let travelers sleep in the hallways and the lobby, passing out hot chocolate, tea and extra blankets and pillows.
“I cannot say no,” she said. “A lot of people had little babies and kids with them.”
Kintz, who is also the Park County coroner, said a core group of about 30 volunteers from the Salvation Army, the coroner’s CARE team, and two local churches were crucial to keeping the shelter running smoothly and ensuring everyone was fed.
“We brought in food from South Park Community Church, we raided the food supply of the school, we brought in food from volunteers who provided food from their places, we got some from local stores,” Kintz said.
He said the number of stranded travelers was unprecedented in his 17-year tenure in emergency services.
“Everyone was routed this way due to I-70 problems and other road issues,” he said, adding that he does not think drivers were adequately warned of the “despicable” road conditions in the area.
“I’m just so proud of my little community,” he said. “For the horrible situation we found ourselves in, to be able to help all those people is amazing to me.”
Authorities brought vehicles that had been abandoned on the highways to the shelter Sunday and reconnected drivers to their cars, Stanley said. Most people were able to leave the shelter on Sunday, he said, and the high school shelter was expected to close Sunday evening as the weather cleared.
“Now,” Stanley said, “we are cleaning up the mess.”
