Week 33: Freeing Fire Hydrants

Wisconsin got hit with a few snowstorms last week requiring time to be spent outside clearing it from roads and sidewalks. And fire hydrants. But sadly, this daughter of a firefighter noticed once again that the majority of them, in my town at least, had not been attended to.

And so last week, I threw a shovel in the back of my vehicle and sweet talked my sweet daughter into driving around with me for an hour or so while I cleared a path from the street and created access space around a whole lot of hydrants in town. 

Because it's been so cold, the snow that fell was fairly light around the bases, but the frozen slushy stuff from the recent plows was not. I shoveled until my almost-50-year-old shoulder with the reoccurring rotator issue protested too loudly. 😅 I cleared 15 in total. 

After freeing one particularly buried one, I told my daughter I was disappointed to see so many hydrants going unattended. She said, "Maybe people don't know they need to do it." And I bet she's right. Because not everyone grew up with a firefighting father. And not everyone thinks about caring for houses the way I do as a real estate agent. And so....

For those of you unaware, firefighters need a path from the street to the fire hydrant, and they are able to work most efficiently when there is 3+ feet of cleared space around the hydrants. 

Also worth knowing: It only takes 3-5 minutes for a house to become engulfed in flames. 

You do NOT want your hometown heroes spending precious time clearing snow when people and animals and things you love are inside. 

And so, I suggest you take note of your nearest fire hydrant and assess its accessibility. If no one has been caring for it, congratulations, you've been elected Fire Hydrant Captain!

If someone is already doing a great job of clearing it (like my old neighbor Doug, whom you may remember from Week 2's beer delivery post, does) you have some options: 

1. You could thank them,
2. You could do a little something special for them,
3. You could find another hydrant in front of an elderly neighbor, or one being ignored close to home, and adopt it as your own,
4. You could spread the word about the importance of keeping space around hydrants neat and tidy (but not in a preachy way, no one likes a know it all), and/or
5. You could drop off a treat at your local fire station (firefighters love baked goods) to say thank you for all they do. 

And since this realtor is on the topic, another winter maintenance tip is this: be sure to clear space around all of your furnace and dryer vents outdoors to eliminate the possibility of carbon monoxide being trapped in the house. 

And to install a carbon monoxide detector in the house. 

And to change your smoke detector batteries twice a year/each time you change your clocks. 

Wait, I'm sounding like the preachy people I warned about above. 🙈 Sorry! 

For more home maintenance tips (or for help with buying or selling your home 😁), send me an Instagram DM or email at sschultz@kw.com. Otherwise, I'll leave you here, trusting you caught my drift on freeing fire hydrants from snow drifts. 😉