With snowbanks reaching head-height along Kenosha’s streets, the Kenosha Fire Department is asking residents’ help in digging out fire hydrants on the parkway. Guy Santelli, fire prevention division chief at the department, said there are nearly 3,300 fire hydrants in the city. City residents are asked to dig out the hydrants on their parkway as they clear sidewalks in front of their homes.
With snow banks along residential streets now at least four feet high in most areas of the city, hydrants are completely covered unless the snow around them is cleared. “We basically need three feet in all directions (from the hydrant),” Santelli said. Last week, Santelli said, the department was called to a fire and found the hydrant covered. “We had to dig it out—it was under snow and packed ice—and we went to open it up, we snapped the stem because it was frozen. Then we had to go and look for another one and dig that one out.”
All of which slowed firefighters’ ability to fight the fire.