| Help the Fire Department – Adopt a Fire Hydrant
As winter approaches, please help the Fire Department by adopting the fire hydrant closest to your home or business and keep it free of snow during the winter
Please make it a point to uncover your fire hydrant after each and every snowfall. Clear a path approximately 3 feet around the hydrant and shovel a path from the street or roadway up to the fire hydrant. These actions will allow the Fire Department to quickly locate the fire hydrant, obtain a water supply for firefighting activities, and give the
fire department room to work with this hydrant should the need arise.
Please consider helping a neighbor with a medical condition or who is elderly, by shoveling out a hydrant in front of their home. This act of kindness will benefit the entire
neighborhood.
If a fire hydrant is buried by snow, it is difficult to find and valuable
time must be spent digging it out. It may take from 4 to 6 minutes to dig out a fire hydrant buried by snow. The delay in gaining a water supply from a fire hydrant may disrupt the timely manner in which firefighters are able to fight the fire and may allow a fire to grow. Fire doubles in size every 20 seconds.
The "Adopt A Hydrant" program is an informal program, therefore it is not necessary to
advise the fire department of which hydrants you will be clearing snow from.
On behalf of the Orchard Beach Volunteer Fire Department, thank you for keeping the community's fire hydrants clear of snow and keeping our communities safe! |