BILLINGS — Winter is in full force in Montana and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. That snow and cold has brought hazardous road conditions that have gripped Billings the past few days.
The first big snow is always a rude awakening in the Treasure State. Fire and police had their hands full Thursday morning responding to multiple calls.
"I saw a bad accident coming into Billings. Two vehicles hit each other and one of the cars was in a ditch on its side and an ambulance and the fire department were there," said James Allender, an Illinois resident visiting Montana on a hunting trip.
His plan was to make it farther on his trip on Wednesday, but the storm made him change course.
"I could’ve made it farther last night, but I thought no, I’ll just take my time. Just take it easy and let this clear off a little bit. Let the plows do their work," added Allender.
Outside of Billings on Highway 87 east, a jumbo-sized wreck closed the road to Hardin. Tracy Glenn drives the route every day for his mail route, and the wreck stopped him and others in their tracks Thursday.
"Biggest wrecker I’ve ever seen, as you can see from the video, and there was a semi completely across the road. And on the other side of him, there was some plow and sanding trucks waiting to get him going," Glenn said.
Despite the storm still being a recent occurrence, Glenn has seen his fair share of accidents already.
"I’d say probably about 20, but I don’t think any of those were involving more than one vehicle. It’s just one person sliding off and sometimes flipping over. I’ve seen a few upside-down too, kind of in turtle mode," added Glenn.
A sign of the season and with more dicey roads likely ahead, Allender says sometimes it's best to stay put.
"If you don’t have to be somewhere, stay home or just stay wherever you are when it's like this," Allender added.
