Hydrants play hide-and-seek in snow

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

With about 350 centimetres of snow this winter, fire hydrants in the West Island have been playing snow bank hide-and-seek. Many municipalities say they are doing their best to keep the hydrants clear – even though the Montreal Fire Department says snow-surrounded hydrants pose no risk in emergency situations.

Fire department spokesperson Josée Gosselin, said people do not need to worry if they see a fire hydrant covered in snow.

“Our firefighters are used to it,” she said, adding every truck is equipped with a GPS device that points out where all the fire hydrants on the island are located.

Nevertheless, in Pierrefonds/Roxboro, four teams of public works employees recently worked to dig out the 1,300 fire hydrants located in the borough – but this was before this past weekend’s 30-centimetre storm. According to communications officer Johanne Palladini, public works started focusing on clearing the hydrants before Christmas, but had to stop due to the repeated snowfalls.

“We take it as it comes,” Palladini said, adding the crews move on to the hydrants once streets and sidewalks are clear.

Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti said the city’s public works crews went on a hydrant-clearing “blitz” two weeks ago.

“We’ve always been doing it. But it’s been a while since we’ve had this much snow,” he said. “Because of all the consecutive snowfalls, we missed a few, so there’s some time when quite a number of them got covered.”

Benedetti added that, with more snow likely to fall this month, public works crews will proceed as usual: clear the roads and sidewalks as needed, and then move on to the hydrants.

Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie also pointed out this season’s snowfall.

“The winter of 2007-2008 will set records in terms of snowfall,” especially with the rest of March to go, he said. “I’ve never experienced a March where there weren’t snow-surprises for us.”

Although the fire department does not require cities to clear the hydrants, Pointe Claire also does its best to keep access to them easy, he said. This season, McMurchie said he has only received one complaint about covered hydrants. The snow clearing crews got to it before he could even pass on the message.

“She phoned me to say thank you the next day before I had even done anything,” he said.

Again, Gosselin reminded digging is just another one of the firefighters’ jobs.

“I can understand (that people may be concerned), but digging them out is part of their work. It’s not particular to this year,” she said. “I think what is exceptional is, it’s been a while since we’ve seen so much snow. But it shouldn’t worry anyone.”