Frigid temperatures keep Halifax firefighters busy

Deputy chief Roy Hollett says crews responded to a lot of alarms and broken water pipes

CITYnews halifax\ Meghan Groff

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This past weekend’s frigid weather kept emergency responders busy.

Halifax experienced low temperatures not seen in years late Friday and on Saturday.

Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency’s deputy chief said usually firefighters will respond to on average around 30 calls a day, and that’s about what they got on Friday as the temperature didn’t start to drop until later in the day.

However Roy Hollett said call volumes jumped up to 71 on Saturday, and 198 on Sunday.

“The majority of calls were alarm calls and broken water pipes,” he told CityNews Halifax. “The pipes cracked or burst, and as the water started to thaw, water was spraying everywhere.”

Even some of their own buildings had problems.

“One of our fire stations, a sprinkler head did break and one of the buildings we acquired in the past two years had a significant flood once the pipes broke in that location,” Hollett said.

And firefighters even had to respond to actual fires. Hollett said putting out flames on a day that’s extremely cold and windy is pretty much the worst conditions crews face.

“It is not comfortable. The wind literally cuts your skin,” he explained. “Your exposure time is extremely limited. You’re outside. you’re getting wet … the lines freeze, gear freezes, it’s just a horrible situation to be in.”

“In these temperatures, in this cold, it’s just not something we see here. We’ll take this as a learning experience to know what we can probably expect the next time. And I’ll say there will be a next time.”