Covered hydrants may be citizens’ responsibility
An executive meeting was held Tuesday morning to address, among other issues, who is responsible for uncovering snow-covered fire hydrants.
“There’s no state law or city code that mandates anybody to clean them out,” Police Chief Richard Hendricks said.
Although Logan is accustomed to snow, Hendricks said the problems this year have escalated due to the large snow storm last month. The fire departments all over the county participated in a promotional last week to encourage people to clear off the hydrants around their homes, but it wasn’t very successful.
The problem has also been in the spotlight in wake of the house fire last Sunday.
Logan firefighter paramedic Joseph Bach said firefighters had to dig out a fire hydrant close to the burning home on Sunday.
“It’s a problem because any time you have a fire and you delay the response of getting water to the fire it can obviously grow. Firefighters could better do their job if the hydrants were cleaned off,” Smithfield Fire Chief Jay Downs, said.
No one disputes that snow-covered hydrants pose threats to the community but whose responsibility it is to take care of the hydrants is unknown.
Hendricks said in the past, Scouts or church groups have often cleared off the hydrants as a part of community service or citizens who live close to the hydrants have cleared them off. Possible solutions given at the meeting included having temporary crews to clear off the hydrants or working with the courts to have such work given out as community service sentences.
“We’re working on a solution as to how we can get them cleared away,” Hendricks said.
A decision as to how to keep the hydrants uncovered will be made as the city assesses how many fire hydrants there are and what would be the most effective way to keep them clean. According to www.firehydrant.org, hydrants are usually placed every 500 to 800 feet depending on the length of the hoses that can be used.
“It does present a problem so citizens should do all they can to uncover them,” Bach said.
Communities all over the world combat the same problem in a variety of ways.
According to Section 7 of the public code of Summit County in Utah, it is the responsibility of the water company to remove snow covering fire hydrants. The hydrants are to be uncovered within 72 hours of the time they were covered by a heavy snowfall or snow plow and must be uncovered for not less than three feet on all sides to ensure they are accessible for emergencies.
Clearing of three feet around the hydrant complies to section 1001.7.2 of the Uniform Fire Code.
Matsudai-town in Japan combats problems with heavy snowfall and fire safety by building hydrants that stand more than six feet tall, according to information from the town’s fire department at www.firehydrant.org. Kitagawa Iron Works makes the tall hydrants with an operating nut located midway on the barrel for normal operation and then a second nut near the top of the hydrant to be accessible during heavy snow accumulations.