Fire Department Digs out Hydrants, Clears off Town Hall Roof, Secures Downed Wires in the Snow

The fire department spent the day after the Blizzard of 2010 clearing out the town's 768 fire hydrants.

Fire Chief Dan Kelly said the fire hydrant duty followed a blizzard day spent responding to downed wires across town. The wet snow weighted down utility wires around town, causing many to hang low and many to touch the ground. As of last night, the department had responded to 60 reports of downed utility wires around town. This morning the department responded to additional five wire calls. The blizzard dumped 17.5 inches of snow on Westfield, the largest total for any town in the New York metropolitan region.

"The majority of our wire calls involved telephone and cable television lines," Kelly said. "We had five that were power lines."

In addition to the power lines, tree limbs had broken off around town, causing problems with power lines across Westfield, along with blocking the streets. Kelly notes that the limbs and wires came down from the weight of the snow and not from wind. He said the wind did not hit Westfield as it did coastal regions.

The heavy wet snow bringing down tree limbs and power lines is similar to the surprise snow storm that paralyzed the Buffalo region in October of 2006.

In addition to the wire calls, Kelly said that the department responded to a hazardous condition at the Municipal Building this morning to assist with the removal of snow and ice from the roof. The snow and ice on the roof had been falling on to entry ways below. In addition, the awning of a clothing store on East Broad Street collapsed this morning due to the weight of the snow.

Kelly said that 12 firefighters were on duty on Wednesday, along with the three chief officers. On Thursday, 16 firefighters have been working on the hydrant clean-up.