Failure To Winterize Homes, Indoor Floods Due To Burst Frozen Water Pipes Tying Up Fire Department Resources

In Columbus, Ohio, NBC4 reports:

• Pipes in vacant homes are causing problems for fire departments around Central Ohio. Battalion Chief Doug Smith said that when utilities aren’t turned off and homeowners or banks don’t properly winterize, fire crews end up getting tied up with a major mess and not able to answer other calls, NBC 4‘s Mikaela Hunt reported.

• In those situations another fire station has to pick up the slack. Some of the vacant properties are due to foreclosure.

• Hunt visited a vacant house in Genoa Township, where the chief there said the water probably had been running for a week. The ceiling fell in and water was spilling out the door.

Source: Frozen Pipes Cause Problems In Vacant Homes.

See also, The Columbus Dispatch: Weather has pipes bursting (Frozen lines common as vacant homes increase):

• [F]irefighters have responded to 69 calls of damaged pipes so far this month, compared with 33 calls during January last year, [battalion chief Doug] Smith said.

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