Snow is starting to pile up, burying everything in sight, including fire hydrants..
North Bay Fire and Emergency Services is asking homeowners to keep the area around hydrants cleared for easy accessibility.
“The main reason is, if we have a fire at your house or one of your neighbours, we need to establish a water source. The longer it takes us to get water to our trucks, the longer it is going to take us to put water on the fire,” explained Fire Chief Jason Whiteley.
The fire chief says his fire trucks carry 800 gallons of water on average.
“But that goes very quickly. So we ask that people try to keep the hydrant clean so if fire crews need to access the hydrant, they can do it quickly,” said Whiteley.
“We do have a few odd hydrants in the city that are placed high up on the yard or not in the best locations when it comes to homeowners clearing the snow. The best thing to do is to contact the fire department and we’ll see if we can arrange to help you get that cleared out. We’ve had to do that for a couple of citizens where it’s just unrealistic where the snow is plowed and the amount of snow sometimes that we get. So we do try to work with people and help them out where we can.”
Homeowners are also advised to keep snow and ice away from natural gas meters, furnace and any other appliance vents.
Experts explain that if they are left covered, there is the potential for carbon monoxide to build up, resulting in carbon monoxide poisoning.
