Emergency and city officials in DuBois are prepared for this weekend’s snow storm.
“What we want to do is make sure all the citizens of dubois know we’re prepared, whatever comes about we’re ready for it and we’ll tackle it as it comes,” DuBois Police Chief Blaine Clark said.
Radios and phones are set up at the City of DuBois building.
They’re ready in case the snow storm calls for extra support.
“We’re going to be taking calls, whether it’s fire, EMS, police, through our dispatch center in the county and what we’ll do is dispatch, and what we’ll do is dispatch crews to the areas that are having issues,” Chief Clark said.
The center can help mobilize plows and emergency crews to where they’re needed most.
“If there is a fire, or a fire call that we need to get to, somebody from here can radio somebody from here can radio our plow trucks that are out on the street already, they can clear out ways for us to get there a little bit quicker and safer,” DuBois Fire Department Chief Joe Mitchell said.
Officials also have a couple of ways you can help them and stay safe in this storm.
One way to help first responders, especially firefighters, is to make sure fire hydrants are clear of snow.
Give them three feet of space around all sides.
“If they’re well shoveled out, they’re easy to find and that cuts crucial seconds off our response time,” Chief Mitchell said.
He also said that bad winter weather means more calls for slips and falls, crashes and carbon monoxide poisoning.
He suggests checking that furnace pipes are clear and, if the power goes out, generators are well-exhausted and vented.
Over at Amserv, LTD/Dusan Ambulance in DuBois, Cody Strouse said the snow won’t change their daily operations.
“This weekend will be business as usual, we’re fully staffed,” Strouse said.
He does ask that to make their job easier, keep sidewalks clear.
“One of the main things is if you have sidewalks, try to keep them shoveled and salted for us,” he said. “If there’s snow in the yards, sidewalks, it makes it slippery, a little more difficult.”
The best thing both Chief Mitchell and Strouse said you can do to help everyone is to just stay home, and if you need to travel, take your time.