By Jessica Willis
The Berkshire Eagle
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc. and New England Newspaper Group Inc.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Those towering snowdrifts, courtesy of last week’s blizzard — and the city’s plows — could be blocking more than just driveways and intersections.
In many cases, the drifts are hiding fire hydrants, and when the fire department has to play hide-and-seek with its water supply during an emergency, the results could be disastrous.
Snow-bound hydrants are a “big time problem,” said acting lieutenant Patrick Bradley of the North Adams Fire Department, and he said residents could help by regularly clearing snow away from the hydrants after a storm.
“We don’t have the manpower to do all of them ourselves,” Bradley said.
“There are thousands of hydrants in the city, and just about all of them are covered by snow,” he added. “And you keep having to dig them out, because the plows cover them back up every time they go by.”
Bradley said an apartment fire Saturday night in a multi-family home at 117 Pleasant St. could have turned tragic — since the nearby hydrant was hidden under several feet of snow and ice, and the firefighters couldn’t access it.
“Some of the hydrants have (marker) poles on them, and some don’t,” Bradley said yesterday. “Trying to find a hydrant in the snow is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Thankfully, Krista Chilson, the tenant, discovered the fire and reacted quickly, according to Bradley.
He said Chilson used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames before injury or extensive property damage could occur.
Bradley said the fire apparently was caused when a candle flame ignited Chilson’s bedding.
Deputy Kenneth Spaniol of the Pittsfield Fire Department estimated there are 4,000 hydrants in the city, and maybe “20 percent” of those have marker flags.
As a result, the firefighters could be forced to play guessing games at an inopportune time.
“Imagine a big fire and we’re having to poke around in a snowbank in order to find a hydrant,” Spaniol said yesterday. “Luckily, we haven’t had any good fires since the blizzard. It can be scary. We plead to (residents) to give hydrants a quick shovel. It’s to everyone’s advantage.”
Both Spaniol and Bradley said the fire departments have reference books that give rough estimates of all hydrant locations in their cities, but the coordinates are not always precise, and it’s not always feasible to consult the book during a fire.
“We don’t necessarily have time to look the book in the event of an emergency,” Bradley said. “Fire doesn’t take long to destroy things.”