Zanesville Fire Department seeks help digging out fire hydrants

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- The Zanesville Fire Department is putting out a call for help from citizens to help make their job a little easier.

The department is asking for anyone with a fire hydrant in front of their home or business to take some time to clear them off by removing the snow around them. Assistant Fire Chief Doug Hobson said this will make it easier for the crews to get to the hydrants in the case of an emergency.

“Here it is, lovely weather we’re having. The snow is outside and it’s getting pretty deep. So we’re asking for the community’s help. Times that we have these structural fires and we need to get to a hydrant to add additional water to our fire trucks we would like to ask if the community if you happen to have a hydrant in your yard in your vicinity if you could help us out. Dig it out. Try to clean it out so we can get a hose onto it and the firemen don’t get hurt getting to the hydrant.”

Hobson said citizens should shovel three feet all around the hydrants to give the crews plenty of space to work with.

“What we actually do is when a truck tags a hydrant, they’ll pull a five inch line off of the back of the truck, they’ll wrap it around the hydrant. That way when they pull it, it doesn’t actually pull the fire hose away from the hydrant. It’s got something with stability. So if we had three foot all the way around all of the fire hydrants that would be outstanding. It keeps our guys safe. It makes it to where we can get to the fire hydrant quick enough to get that water supply to fight the structure fire.”

Hobson is hoping to start a community program enlisting help from citizens to keep the hydrants clear and clean throughout the year.