Frozen hydrants hamper firefighting efforts

Firefighters from the Cloquet Area Fire District responded to two house fires Monday and found a frozen hydrant at each location.

That's a problem, said CAFD captain Chad Vermeersch.

"We had two frozen hydrants [Monday], one on each of the fires," Vermeersch said. "They hadn't been dug out and they were both frozen."

Vermeersch said the first call was a chimney fire on the 2000 block of Prospect Avenue in Cloquet. The fire extended into attic a little bit but the firefighters were able to knock it down pretty quickly, he said. They arrived on the scene at 10:26 a.m. and were out by 11:30 a.m.

The second fire was in the kitchen and living room of a home on 10th Street between Cloquet and Industrial Avenues. They were able to contain the fire to the kitchen and living room, but there was heat damage in other parts of the house. Vermeersch said they arrived on the scene at 12:56 p.m. and departed about 2:30 p.m. No one was injured in either fire.

It could have been much worse, he said, explaining that CAFD has been bringing a tanker truck as well as a fire engine to all fire calls, which gives the firefighters an extra 3,000 gallons on top of the 1,250 gallons that the engine holds.

Firefighters had enough water in the two trucks to get both fires under control Monday without hooking up to a hydrant immediately, he said, but it did cause a delay in securing a secondary water supply as they had to search for an unfrozen hydrant.

Hydrants are usually the homeowner's job to keep clear, and city crews do what they can, he said. With winters like this one, people have to keep the entire hydrant, and not just the flag marking it, free of snow.

"For the safety of yourself and your neighbors, if you have a hydrant nearby, dig it out," he said.

CAFD chief Kevin Schroeder said they ask for a three-foot clearance around any fire hydrant, and for the home or business owner to clear a path from the hydrant to the street.