Marathon County Sheriff’s Department Releases Some Statistics From Weekend of Historic Blizzard

Monday, March 23rd, 2026 -- 8:01 AM

As the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department continues getting caught up and reviewing data from Winter Storm Elsa, they want to recognize the outstanding work of their teams.

During the storm, the dispatch center experienced a major surge in activity. On Sunday, the dispatch center handled 268 - 911 calls. These calls were an increase of about 239% compared to a typical day.

In addition to these calls, the dispatchers handled 844 Administrative Calls. This is an increase of about 190% over a typical day. The deputies, police officers, and troopers responded to 204 property damage crashes, 1 injury related crash, and 347 disabled vehicles.

Even with the significant increase in calls for service, their team, from across all their law enforcement, fire, and EMS partners handled every call professionally and ensured the community stayed safe throughout the storm.

The Department is grateful for the limited number of injury crashes they responded to. This was in large part due to the highway crews tackling a very difficult storm and working to keep the roads as clear as they possibly could, considering the conditions they faced.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.