An unusual culprit caused a woman to lose control of her car and wreck Friday morning on East Hudson Boulevard. A patch of ice amid otherwise dry ground covered a section of the road by The Villages at Ballantyne apartments. The problem: A sprinkler system sprayed water onto the road early Friday.
According to fire officials, a woman wrecked her car after driving over the icy patch around 7:30 a.m. Friday. She was the only person in the car at the time. She was taken to Caromont Regional Medical Center, although emergency officials said her injuries were not life-threatening.
According to Woody Thomas, a battalion chief with the Gastonia Fire Department, water came from sprinklers in a nearby development. The landscaping company used by Willow Creek Housing Development manages the sprinkler system installed by the road, he said. “The sprinkler system was supposed to have been winterized and to their knowledge it was,” Thomas said.
Somehow, though, the switch was flipped and the sprinklers turned back on — on a late December morning. A resident of the neighborhood noticed the sprinklers were running. She took photos and called the housing development’s managers, Thomas said.
Firefighters were called to the wreck shortly before 8 a.m. “As soon as we got there we saw the condition with the ice,” Thomas said. “We have stockpiles of the absorbent kitty litter, at the station. The station is on Armstrong Park Road, just a couple blocks from there.”
So they loaded up four or five bags and covered the road. Fire crews were on the scene for around 45 minutes. Thomas checked on conditions a few hours later. Thanks to the heat of the sun and the kitty litter, the ice had melted. Thomas says it’s a first. He’s never seen a sprinkler system cause such a mess before.
You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.