BRUNSWICK

Public works crews, plow crews and residents were busy cleaning up after last week’s storms. It was also very busy for firefighters who worked around daily calls to get to the fire hydrants in town to clear away snow.

Local fire departments have asked that residents help them out by shoveling a hydrant near their home to keep them accessible in the event of a fire.

Brunswick Fire Chief Ken Brillant said there are 493 fire hydrants in Brunswick and Friday, crews were working to get to the last of them after the last storm.

“It’s a lot of work but we’re making headway,” he said.

Brillant said the recommendation is to clear the main hydrant and three feet all the way around. Whatever people can do, “Just being able to help find the hydrant and make it operational quickly is a big help,” he said.

The storm Sunday and Monday that dumped a significant amount of snow on the Midcoast, requiring about 15 minutes of shoveling per hydrant on Tuesday. A subsequent storm brought less snow, and Friday crews spent closer to three minutes at each hydrant.

They alert the water district of any damage, leaking. Occasionally a hydrant will freeze up, making it useless until repaired.

Captain Chris Fairbanks, who was shoveling Friday with Firefighter Michael Dube, said for those who clean out a hydrant themselves, “We’d love to recognize them.”

Large orange flags have been placed on every hydrant so they can be located in deep snow, but people often break them off. The fire department asks people to leave the flags alone.

It is also important that people don’t plow snow, or snow blow snow, over the hydrants, which hardens and is much more difficult to remove. When a home is on fire, seconds matters.

“The fire outcome is usually dictated in the first 15 minutes … and if in 15 minutes I don’t have a water supply, it’s going to be an outcome and we’re not going to save as much property as we want,” Fairbanks said.