Don't Let Kids Build Snow Forts: JFD Chief

JOLIET, IL - On Monday, as many yards and neighborhoods are buried waist deep in snow after the plows cleared off the streets, the Joliet Fire Department issued a two-fold message they hope you heed. First, the city of Joliet press release asks "residents to help the Joliet Fire Department by shoveling out fire hydrants near their homes.

“With last week’s heavy snowfall, many of our hydrants are covered with snow. With over 8,000 hydrants in the city, our crews cannot get to all the hydrants to clear," Joliet Fire Chief Joe Formhals said in the statement. "The crews shovel 'priority hydrants' that are located near schools, hospitals, high rises, and large apartment complexes. Although all hydrants in the city are located in our on board computers, getting out of the vehicle and finding the hydrant can be the difference between getting water on a fire and holding the crews outside until the water supply is established.”

Secondly, the Joliet Fire Chief had a message directed at parents of young children around the city.

"Chief Formhals also reminds parents to refrain from letting children dig into the large snow piles to create 'forts.' At some point the weight of the snow above will come down and cause a child to be trapped."

In 2003, a 12-year-old Joliet boy died when he was tunneling through a snowbank and it collapsed on him. Ryan Simpson was discovered trapped in the snow outside a church after he didn't return home for dinner. The sixth-grader had been playing in a large pile of snow created when snowplows cleared the church parking lot and was likely unable to escape due to the sheer weight of the snow, fire officials said at the time.

Image via John Ferak, Joliet Patch Editor