Super Storm kept firefighters busy

Last week’s Super Winter Storm caused some super large headaches for area businesses and homeowners.

With below freezing temperatures for several days, water pipes were exploding left and right all over town.

Flower Mound Fire Chief Eric Metzger said that his department stayed busy responding to problems caused by the big freeze.

Chief Metzger reported that the FMFD took 34 calls related to frozen fire suppression systems and 17 due to frozen water pipes.

“These are just only the ones we responded to.  The town’s utility division took care of most of the broken water pipe calls,” said Metzger.

He said that in commercial buildings, domestic and fire suppression lines are typically overhead and subject to the cold in attic spaces. 

“A method to further protect your building from the cold is to push a ceiling tile aside and allow supplemental heat to enter the overhead spaces. Don’t set back the temperature; in fact you may want to elevate it a bit over normal.

“Some buildings actually have supplemental heating units in the attic, but you need to make sure they are operable.  We have found some to be turned off after we have responded to the call.”

Metzger said that the town’s fire department responded to 111 calls during the peak of the storm, including motor vehicle accidents, EMS and fire calls.