Can you dig it? St. John's man demands faster action on buried fire hydrants

With winter barely started, oneSt. John's resident says the lack of clearing of snow from around fire hydrants is unacceptable.

"It's just ridiculous," says Gerard Neil, who lives in the Quidi Vidi Road area, at Cavell Avenue.

It's a dense part of town, withnarrow streets and busy intersections.

Given the big snowfall late last week, and with more expected through the next several months, Neil said he understands it takes time to clear all the roads, but that snow clearing shouldn't leave a fire hydrant buried.

You get tired of calling, you get tired of sendingemails.- Gerard Neil

"It was frozen solid, so it's kind of hard for a guy with a small shovel," he told CBC's St. John's Morning Show Tuesday.

"I don't mind shovelling it out if I can get at it, but how can they not see it?"

Neil has lived in the neighbourhood for years and said it's been the same on and off through plenty of winters snow falls, plows come, the hydrant is buried, and he goes out to dig it out.

"You get tired of calling, you get tired of sending emails. I mean, Sheilagh O'Leary must think I'm an idiot, except for that I'm relatively eloquent and I make sense. Everything I'm saying is actual factual, logical stuff," he said.

"If I didn't have a kid, I wouldn't be calling every daybecause I can get out the window and jump out. Break my leg, so what? But how do I get my kid out of the house if the firemen can't put out the fire?"

There's a grey, metalpole marking where the hydrant is, but he said there areno markings on it to draw attention.

While he hopes the firefighterswould have axes and shovels on their trucks, he said they shouldn't have to deal with that, especially in an emergency.

Neil has contacted councillors, the mayor, the St. John's Regional Fire Department and other city staff and officials, saying it's been too long, and plowing crews should have maps to show where hydrants are, if they don'thave them.

"A reasonable amount of time is within a day of being notified," Neil said.

More snow means more time

Meanwhile, Coun. Hope Jamieson said in an emailed statement that the city's public works staff do clear the snow from fire hydrants, by hand.

"Once road widening is complete, our staff then shovel out the hydrants so once cleared, they are not reburied by plows at work," she said.

However, Jamieson saidthere are more than 3,200 fire hydrants in the city, soclearing them all can sometimes take days.

"Back-to-back snow events like we experienced late last week compound the issue," she said.

"Of course, our firefighters are aware of the location of the hydrants and in the event that they need to use them, always are equipped to get to them."

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