Fire and rescue crews ask for help
The Department of Fire and Rescue is urgently requesting that residents take the following steps to help public safety personnel respond to emergencies as quickly as possible:
Make sure your address is visible. Fire and Rescue responders use maps to get them to the area, but they need to be able to see house numbers to ensure they are at the correct location.
Make sure the hydrant in your neighborhood is visible. Adopt your fire hydrant. It needs to be uncovered from snow and there needs to be a clear path for access. In the instance of a fire, firefighters need to be able to quickly locate the fire hydrant, or lives and property could be lost.
Make sure you have at least two clear exits out of your house. Keep an eye on snow build up. When the snow melts and refreezes, it could prevent you from being able to open the door and exit from your house.
Businesses are also reminded to clear the areas around emergency exits to ensure their customers can exit safely in an emergency.
The county encourages all residents to provide much needed assistance with items listed above, which will help keep response times as low as possible under these challenging conditions.
For the most up-to-date information on county government closures, visit http://www.pwcgov.org. For statewide information about the storm, visit Virginia’s February Winter Storm site at http://februarywinterstorm.tumblr.com/.