MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Even when temperatures are below freezing, emergency crews have to go outside and work.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, Washington Township firefighters battled a house fire in the 9400 block of Lantern Way just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
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As fire crews sprayed water, it ran down the driveway and froze on the road.
“It’s like arctic, like arctic freezing, like Alaska, Antarctica, something I never experienced,” Dayton resident Roxann Holly said.
Holly grew up in Dayton, but she said she still isn’t used to the cold.
She feels for the people who have to work in it.
“Hopefully they have like those little heat warmers that they can put in their shoes, or like, heated jackets,” she said.
While firefighters don’t wear heated jackets out on calls, they take other precautions.
A spokesperson with the Washington Township Fire Department told News Center 7 that they have to put down salt, so firefighters don’t slip.
Vandalia Division of Fire Community Risk Coordinator Rich Morrett said firefighters have learned to deal with this weather.
“When you get temperatures dropping this low, you know, our turnout gear gets wet. It gets saturated and you essentially can turn into an icicle. And a lot of times it just you take it back to the station, you set it out, you let it thaw out,” Morrett said. “Being out in the cold elements obviously can take a toll on the firefighters.”
Morrett asks people to make sure the fire hydrants near their homes are cleared of snow.
“Three feet around, that gives us easy access, quick access to that fire hydrant which then saves time in the firefighting operations side of things,” he said.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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