Snowing again? What residents should know
Take a poll anywhere but the playground, and most will agree snow is a good thing – but only to a certain extent. This winter, record inches of the white stuff has caused travel troubles, schedule shuffling and, in general, one heck of a headache. The abundant snow also has effects elsewhere in the community, in places you normally wouldn’t think about. Free your fire hydrant In the event of a fire emergency, local fire departments need access to large volumes of water – and fast. That access is provided by fire hydrants scattered throughout Hazen. According to Hazen Fire Chief Dan Wettstein, its up to individuals who have them in their yard to make sure they’re accessible in the event of an emergency. "If they’d be shoveled out, that’d be great," Wettstein said. "No. 1, if we didn’t know it was there we’d have to search for it. Then we may go a block away to tie into a hydrant. That extra time, that can be very precious." Several years ago, the Hazen department purchased tall, sturdy red flags to mark hydrants located in areas that were buried under snow more often. But even if the hydrant in front of your house has a flag, it remains important to make the hydrant accessible, Wettstein noted.
