With the snow piling up this winter, Morden Fire & Rescue is putting a call out for some “Hydrant Heroes.”
The fire department has teamed up with Little Caesars for a contest that will see one lucky monthly winner take home a pizza prize pack in thanks for helping to keep the community’s fire hydrants accessible.
“We’re in year three with this,” says Cpt. Jonathan Baumgart, public education officer. “We took a two-year hiatus because we didn’t have any snow the last couple of years, but we’ve got some now and so we’re bringing it back with a new sponsor and we’re excited to get it off the ground again.”
Thankfully, the department hasn’t had a situation yet where a buried fire hydrant has hampered firefighting operations, but it’s something they most certainly want to avoid.
“It’s only going to take one time that it’s going to be a problem,” Baumgart points out. “Our city public works, they do a fantastic job of looking after the roadways and the sidewalks, and they do try to help us out with fire hydrants. But with the frequency of snowfalls, especially this winter, it can be hard for them to keep up. So we’re asking the community to get involved and help look after their neighbourhood fire hydrant.”
A buried hydrant can mean the difference between a house being saved or not, Baumgart notes.
“A fire doubles in size, that’s kind of our golden rule, and it takes us almost eight minutes to dig out a fire hydrant if it’s under 24 inches of snow and to connect hoses to it. That’s a significant delay.”
Morden’s fire trucks do carry some water for firefighters to use when they first arrive on the scene, but only enough for a couple of minutes—it’s the hydrants that do the heavy lifting in supplying water.
Hence, the Hydrant Heroes Contest. To enter, all you have to do is clear a hydrant—making sure you shovel a three-foot radius around it and a path to the street—and then snap a photo of you with it and send it to Morden Fire & Rescue, either by tagging them or sending it to them directly on their Facebook or Instagram pages, or reaching out to them at the fire station. Make sure to include the street location and a contact phone number with your entry.
Each month—January, February, and March—one winner will be randomly drawn to win a Little Caesars voucher for a classic pepperoni pizza, a three meat pizza, breadsticks, and Italian cheesy bread.
“Every fire hydrant you clear is a new ballot,” Baumgart explains. “If you clear the same one three times, that counts as three separate entries, and all entries go for the whole duration of the contest.”
