Some Winter Safety Tips

After a storm, check your home exhaust vents to make sure they are clear of ice and snow. If they are blocked, the carbon dioxide (CO) exhaust will back up into your home.

If you own a generator, be sure it is placed away from your home. If it is near a window or vent, the exhaust and CO can enter your home.

Do not run and warm up your car in a garage which is located within your living quarters. The CO has nowhere to go but into your home.

If your CO alarms sounds, and it is not the end-of-life alert, call 911 and exit the home. Do not stop to open windows and doors. This will prevent us from finding the source.

Properly dispose of the ashes in a metal container, bring them outside, and place them where the ashes will not catch anything else on fire. Please do not put ashes in an open container on a porch or near your home. The wind will stir them, and any hot ashes may start a fire.

In the event of a chimney fire, close the damper, doors, and vents to your wood stove. If you are able to safely remove the wood, bring it outside out of harm’s way. Call 911. We cannot assist you, and make sure the fire is out, if you do not call us.

Please be careful when shoveling snow after a storm. The exertion of shoveling, especially heavy wet snow, is a cause of heart attacks.

With the below zero temperatures, and even colder wind chills, be sure to wear proper outdoor clothing and cover exposed skin. When the wind chills are as low as they have been recently, it does not take long to develop hypothermia.

Please be safe and stay healthy.

Call Log

During November and December there were 41 medical calls and 35 patients transported.

Nov 1 1:10pm. St George for a residential fire alarm. The residence was checked with meters. No cause found. Engine 1, Med 100 and six members responded.

Nov 1 1:23pm. Mutual aid to Shelburne for a structure fire.

Nov 1 2:56pm. Pond Rd for motor vehicle crash into a tree. The operator refused treatment. Engine 1, Med 100 and six members responded.

Nov 5 8:17am. Silver Street for a carbon monoxide alarm in a guest house. Our CO meter showed readings on both floors. The residence was ventilated to zero and owner advised to have the heating system checked. Engine 1 and five members responded.

Nov 5 8:47pm. One car rollover on Tyler Bridge. The vehicle rolled coming to rest on the driver’s side. The passengers were assisted out the rear hatch by responders, treated by Hinesburg EMS and transported by Richmond Rescue. Engine 1, Med 100 and nine members responded.

Nov 8 8:32am. Hinesburg Community School for a juvenile stuck in a tree. A ladder was set up and the juvenile was assisted down. Engine 1 and six members responded.

Nov 11 5:29pm. Route 116 near Town Hall for a two-car crash. One vehicle rear ended a second stopped in traffic. There were no injuries. Engine 1 and five members responded.

Nov 13 11:01am. Barberry Lane for a fire alarm. No cause found. Engine 1 and 7 members responded.

Nov 14 11:20pm. One car rollover near 9329 Rte. 116. A vehicle travelling north went off the road, sliding across the grass into a granite sign. The operator denied injuries and refused treatment. Engine 1, Med 100 and four members responded.

Nov 20 3:53pm. Mutual aid to Shelburne for a reported brush fire. HFD was cancelled by Shelburne before leaving the station.

Nov 20 5:18pm. Two car crash at Rte. 2A and Barber Rd. All occupants were out of the vehicles on arrival. The occupants were checked by Hinesburg EMS and refused transport. Engine 1, Med 100 and eight members responded.

Nov 20 7:04pm. Barberry Lane for a fire alarm activation. No cause found. Engine 1 and four members responded.

Nov 24 7:56pm. Motor vehicle crash, car into a pole. The operator was checked by Hinesburg EMS and refused transport. Engine 1, Med 100 and eleven members responded.

Nov 24 9:09pm. Report of a two-car crash in the area of 6074 Rte. 116. The first member on scene reported a car had slid off the road and was waiting on a wrecker. All apparatus and personnel were held in quarters.

Nov 26 11:17pm. Hawk Lane for trees down.

Nov 27 5:19pm. Huntington Fire Dept requested Hinesburg respond with our tanker to Taft Road for a structure fire.

Nov 28 3:59am. Hillview Terrace for a report of a structure fire. Dispatch updated HFD while enroute with a corrected address and the owner was burning trash. The property owner extinguished the fire and reminded it is illegal in Vermont to burn trash. Engine 1, Med 100 and seven members responded.

Nov 29 3:44pm. Commercial fire alarm on Route 116. Dust from a workstation tripped the system.

Nov 30 1:55pm. Two car crash at CVU and Mechanicsville Rds. There were no injuries. HFD contained leaking fluids and cleared debris from the road. Engine 1 and five members responded.

Dec 3 4:45pm. HFD requested to meet at our station and begin a search for a hiker lost on the trails between Buck Hill Rd West and Lantman’s Market. One team entered the trails behind Lantman’s. As the second crew was travelling to the Buck Hill entrance, the hiker was located walking down Buck Hill Rd West. The hiker stated they were fine and refused medical assistance. The person was provided a ride to their nearby residence by a Hinesburg Police Officer.

Dec 4 4:44pm. Winterbottom Rd St George for a motor vehicle on its side. The operator was out and denying injuries. HFD contained leaking fluids.

Dec 7 10:17am. Hinesburg Community School for a fire pull station. There was no fire. A student pulled the alarm.

Dec 10 7:44am. Lyman Meadows for a carbon monoxide alarm. The resident stated the alarm had been sounding on and off since 1am. The residence was checked with our meter. No readings were found. Engine 1 and four members responded.

Dec 12 12:51am. Residential fire alarm on Farmall Drive. The resident stated the alarm started sounded as soon as the power went off. The residence was checked, and no readings were found on our meter. Engine 1, Med 100 and five members responded.

Dec 15 12:25am. One car crash on North Rd near Blackberry Hill. The operator refused treatment. Engine 1, Med 100 and five members responded.

Dec 18 5:55am. Route 116 near Chambers Park Rd St George for a one car crash into the trees. A Bristol Rescue ambulance was passing the scene and stopped to assist. Hinesburg and Bristol EMS treated two persons. Bristol and Richmond transported the persons to the UVMMC. Engine 1, Engine 2, Med 100 and 10 members responded.

Dec 2012:14am. One car crash on Charlotte Rd at the Hinesburg/Charlotte town line. The operator was checked by Hinesburg EMS and refused transport. Engine 1, Med 100 and seven members responded.

Dec 20 5:07pm. Evanson Rd for a report of an odor of gas. On arrival, the property owner advised they had found one of the stove burners slightly ajar. They turned the burner off and opened windows/doors to ventilate. HFD checked the residence with our CO meter. No readings were found. Engine 1, Med 100 and seven members responded.

Dec 22 6:56pm. Charlotte Fire requested mutual aid for a full involved structure fire at the Charlotte Town Garage. Engine 1, Tanker 1 and eleven members responded to the scene. Additional HFD members stood by at HFD for coverage in the event of additional calls.

Dec 24 6:48pm. Report of a barn fire on Fletcher Farm Rd. The call was immediately upgraded to a working incident and mutual aid requested. 911 received an additional call stating it was a bon fire, no structures were involved. HFD arrived to confirm an unpermitted bon fire. All mutual aid was cancelled and HFD cleared the scene.

Dec 27 1:00am. Motor vehicle crash. Assist HPD in locating the operator. Engine 1, Med 100 and eight members responded.

Vehicle Crash – No Injuries

On Sunday, January 9 at 8:44 am, HFD was dispatched to a motor vehicle crash in the area of 8760 Rte. 116. Road conditions were reported to be icy. Engine 1 was responding with four members. As Engine 1 was passing Place Rd West, and started down the hill, road conditions quickly deteriorated, causing Engine 1 to lose steering and braking ability. The Engine slid approximately five hundred feet down the hill, striking the guardrail and finally coming to a stop in the southbound lane across from Billings Farm Rd. Our firefighters were seat belted and uninjured. There were no other vehicles involved.

Richmond Rescue was responding and handled the initial motor vehicle crash.

There were several other minor accidents with no injuries after the engine involved crash.

Route 116 was closed in both directions for about 45 minutes to await the arrival of State AOT sand trucks.

Thank you to everyone who slowed to ask about the well-being of our firefighters.