A blizzard means more than roads, sidewalks, walkways and driveways being buried beneath a thick white blanket of snow, fire hydrants could also disappear from view. This poses a danger when firefighters need to tap into a nearby water source at the most common time of the year for house fires.
To make it easier to track this time around, Monroe Fire Captain Chris Krize built a new app to track hydrants once they’ve been dug out. “Residents and the fire department can use this app and the hydrants will turn from red to green once indicated as having been cleared after the storm,” Monroe Fire Chief Kevin Catalano said.
“Any resident with a hydrant on their property should clear the snow if they are physically able,” he said. “If neighbors know that resident is elderly or incapable of clearing the snow, a neighbor should take over that responsibility.”
After the last snowstorm, Catalano said “far less residents” cleared hydrants in front of their properties, leading to weeks of heavy work for volunteers from the town’s three fire companies — Monroe, Stepney and Stevenson — typically on dark evenings after having come home from their paying jobs.
Catalano said he believes the drop in residents clearing their hydrants of snow last time was likely due to the heavy volume of snow, coupled with the wind and extreme cold temperatures that followed.
Of the new app, he said, “this will help identify areas of town where residents have not been able to clear their hydrants. With over 400 fire hydrants in town, your volunteer firefighters need your help. Adopt the hydrant closest to your home or business and please dig it out. Mark it cleared on our app.”