UPDATE: 6:00 p.m.
Justin Candido believes the weather warnings kept most people off of the roads.
"It's not crazy because everybody's had a notice of the weather," Candido said.
But his company, Candido's Towing, helped a woman get going after being stuck in the cold for hours.
"Somebody that's out of fuel, or their truck's not running," Candido said, "we try to put them as a top priority."
The Corbin Police Department shared the story on Facebook of an officer who noticed a flickering light coming from a stopped vehicle on the side of I-75. He stopped to investigate and found a woman inside shivering.
In photos provided by the police department, the woman had a small tea candle, and had stuffed tissues around the window seal while ice froze on the glass. The Facebook post also mentioned the woman had a blanket and hand warmers as well, and the officer brought the woman to warmth in her patrol vehicle.
According to the National Weather Service, hypothermia can begin to set in at temperatures below 30 degrees. On colder days like today, the hypothermia risk is accelerated even more.
"I don't think people realize what the weather is when it gets cold like that," said Candido. "Our guys go out all the time with these truck drivers and stuff, and they're froze to death out there waiting on us and we put them in our truck and heat them up while we try to get theirs going."
Candido's Towing helped get the woman's vehicle running - a happy ending - all due to one officer's care and the driver having emergency supplies that may have saved her life.
Original Story:
A Corbin police officer saved a woman stranded in her vehicle on the side of I-75 in the freezing temperatures.
According to a Facebook post from the Corbin Police Department, K9 Patrolman Brentley Patrick was driving when he "noticed a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of the interstate and thought it might be abandoned." However, the post says he saw "a flicker of light inside the vehicle when passing by, which seemed unusual, prompting him to turn around and check on it."
After stopping, according to the post, Officer Patrick found "a woman inside the vehicle who was crying and visibly shivering, with blue lips from the frigid 9-degree temperature."
The woman told Officer Patrick that she had "run out of gas, had been stranded for nearly two hours, and was waiting on roadside assistance." According to the post, her initial request went unanswered, so she called the nearest towing company.
While waiting for roadside assistance, according to the post, she used "a blanket and hand warmers, stuffed her windows with tissue paper, and lit a small tea candle to keep warm."
According to the post, Officer Patrick "quickly loaded the woman into his patrol vehicle and turned up the heat until Candidos Towing arrived and got her vehicle started."
The Corbin Police Department reminds the community of how dangerous the freezing temperatures can be and to carry an emergency kit with essentials inside your vehicle.
