The bone-chilling temperatures this month are enough to cause water pipes to rupture and vehicles batteries to drain and someone needs to brave the conditions to deal with those problems.
Though police officers, city workers and others have to endure the cold weather for their jobs, they’re making sure to stay safe from frostbite and other dangers of winter.
Throughout the single-digit temperatures Tuesday night, Ryan Huff, public works supervisor for Plain City, dealt with a busted water line. For six hours, he and his crew tried to stay warm while wading through a water pit, which apparently feels warmer than outside, and getting the job done in the “dangerously cold” weather.
“It’s pretty normal in the winter time in Plain City because we have some old pipes,” Huff said. “It’s one of those things where you try to take extra precautions for things like that… You try to use your head as much as possible.”
Extra gloves, water waders and thermal underwear are essential in this weather, but Huff said there was another precaution he had to take that night. He had to make sure his tools wouldn’t freeze to his hands.
“You can’t wear gloves when you’re in the water, so if someone handed you a tool, it was so cold. If your hands were wet and that tool wasn’t wet, it froze to your hand instantly,” he said. “We would put tools in the water so we could grab them. They stuck to my hand a couple of times and it was a bad feeling.”
Though they were in the cold for so long, Huff said they were happy to get the issue resolved.
“It’s cold, it’s overwhelming sometimes,” he said. “When you get down there and you get wet, you just try to do it right the first time. You know you can get undressed and get warmed up, so the quicker you get it done, the quicker you get to go home.”
With situations like Tuesday night’s water main break, village administrator Kevin Vaughn said the village makes sure to keep its workers warm. He said in colder weather, it’s common to see water main breaks and “mechanical breakdowns” of vehicles and equipment.
“We’ve probably improved over the last few years dealing with cold temperatures because we have a good vehicle and equipment replacement program now,” Vaughn said. “We are not experiencing as many breakdowns and we’re just being more educated about taking care of our staff while they’re out there.”
However, he said the village “doesn’t have the luxury” of having enough employees to rotate them out. Though there aren’t many workers to spare, Vaughn said he makes sure there are enough staff to get workers out of the elements to protect them. He said workers are appropriately dressed for a job by making sure they have the right clothing.
Public workers aren’t the only ones subjected to the cold weather in times of crisis. When vehicles break down or if there are car crashes, the police have to be outside to investigate the scene or redirect traffic.
Tom Morgan, chief deputy at the Union County Sheriff’s Office, said an officer could stand outside in the cold for 10 minutes at a traffic stop or more than an hour investigating a car crash and redirecting traffic.
“When it’s 10 (degrees) below (zero) outside with a windchill of 25 below, it gets really though to do your job and it gets tough to stay warm,” he said. “We want them to take care of themselves and respond to anyone else who needs help.”
Morgan said a police cruiser is essentially an officer’s office, the only place they can stay warm when on the job. He said officers come prepared with the right clothing for the weather, and with an increase in vehicle breakdowns in colder weather, they also come prepared to face a dead car battery.
“They can’t turn around and come back, get warm at the station and wait for a while and go back out,” he said. “They have to be prepared to be out in their cruiser the entire shift and dressed to handle the elements.”