Girl Scouts’ “Adopt-a-fire-hydrant” Project Aids Firefighters During Snow Storms
It began as a project to earn their Girl Scout Silver Award, but the more 13-year-old twin sisters Jill and Allie Zimmermann of Mountainside spoke to local volunteer firefighters they realized the importance of their endeavors, the girls decided to continue their work. The girls’ project was to ask residents to join the “Adopt-a-Fire-Hydrant” program by committing to shovel out the fire hydrants on or near their properties following a snow storm.
“We have a fire hydrant in front of our house and we always shoveled it out when it snowed. However, often when riding through town, we’d see those fire hydrant markers sticking out of the snow with the hydrant buried,” explained Jill. “Allie and I then decided to take this on as our project.”
What really convinced the girls that this was a great project was a meeting they had with Firefighter Samantha Grindlinger of the Mountainside Volunteer Fire Department. “She emphasized how important it was for firefighters to have immediate access to the hydrant in the event of a fire and how many times through the years they’ve come across snowed in hydrants. We knew this was a good project that not only could earn us our Silver Award, but could also save lives and property in the case of a winter fire,” Allie noted.
The Cadette Scouts got a map from the Fire Department showing where the hydrants were located and then verified the names and addresses of the property owners at those sites from the Town Hall Tax Office. They reached out by mail to those residents and were able to secure a 35 percent adoption rate.
“We were aware of the fact that some homeowners, whether because of age or disability, would be unable to participate in the program so we asked them if they could ask their neighbor to make the commitment. The project was met with enthusiasm from most people because they realized the importance of having immediate access to a hydrant in case of a fire,” Jill said.
Allie noted that because of the warm start to this winter, people might not be thinking about shoveling out fire hydrants, but she doesn’t expect the warm weather to last and believes the snow will come. “We want to increase our data base of people committed to keeping the hydrants open and accessible to the firefighters. They respond to fires all times of day and night and they cannot do their jobs without quick and easy access to water. It takes between seven and 10 minutes to dig out a fire hydrant buried in snow. Those minutes can save lives and property,” she explained.
Prior to the start of the project, the girls attended a meeting of the Mayor and Council to explain their project. Once they received the approval of the town officials, they were able to secure a grant from the Watts Foundation to cover the costs of the initial mailings. “We’d like to thank everyone who helped us get this project off the ground. It turned out to be a great community effort,” Jill and Allie agreed.
Those participating in the program receive a personalized color Certificate of Adoption. Anyone willing to participate in “adopting” those fire hydrants that are still not accounted for can contact the scouts at yourfirehydrant@gmail.com for more information and to join.
(above) Emily Liu (shown) is participating to help Melody who is fighting Ependymorma brain cancer for the past 3 years.
