‘A lot of moving parts’: Beatrice fire crews prepare for winter weather
BEATRICE, Neb. (KLKN) – Snow can pose real challenges for first responders.
By the time snow started falling on Tuesday, Beatrice Fire & Rescue had already done its preparations.
But if the roads get bad, crews will have to rely on teamwork to make it out on emergency calls.
“There’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of organization that goes on in the background,” Fire Chief Brian Daake said.
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The fire department fills all of the ambulances and fire engines full of gas and drains the extra water out of the hose lines so they don’t freeze.
But the training for this type of weather takes much more preparation.
Daake said the crews learn how to say safe when they’re responding to a fire or medical emergency.
Usually, that involves layering up and making sure everyone is hydrated.
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When they fight fires in the winter, the department takes extra steps to keep crews safe.
“We have a warming area set up so that way, when the firefighters are done and need to go into rehab, they can go inside to a warmer area,” Daake said.
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He said when the roads get bad, it’s a full team effort between the fire department and the city and county crews.
If first responders are called to an area where they know it will be tough to drive, they’ll call for help from the plows.
“It actually happened a couple of times last year when we had those big snowstorms,” Daake said. “We actually had the city street and county road crews going in front of us, depending on their jurisdiction, making sure we could get to that person.”
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The fire engines and ambulances sometimes have to follow behind the plows on their way to an emergency.
But Daake said no matter what, crews will always make it out to help someone.
