Today is a good day to stay inside.
From 1 a.m. today until 9 a.m. Friday, McKean County is under a wind chill warning from the National Weather Service.
“Dangerously cold wind chill is expected, with expected wind chills as low as 40 below zero,” stated an emergency bulletin from the weather service Tuesday night.
Most area school districts are closed for today, while Otto-Eldred School District was going to wait until today to evaluate the conditions before making the call. As of late Tuesday, Kane Area School District appeared to be still open for the day today.
In the City of Bradford, the police and fire departments were making plans to keep themselves safe in the frigid cold while tending to the needs of the residents.
“Although we have cold weather gear, you can only prepare so much for this type of weather,” said Police Chief Chris Lucco. “Officers can be in the station for an hour or longer doing reports and processing suspects, to be dispatched to an accident on the expressway. So to be able to dress to work both inside and outside officers can only prepare so much.
“You can not dress for -15 and sit inside a 70 degree office nor vice versa,” he explained.
Lucco said officers attempt to get situations under control and cleared as quickly as possible so the officers and members of the public can get out of the cold as quickly as possible.
“In the event of an extended outside detail, we would obviously try and rotate officers in and out as manpower and call volume would permit.” Lucco said. “Certainly the next few days are going to be extreme but I do not believe it is anything most of us have not experienced in the past.”
At the fire station, Chief Eric Taylor said the fire fighters have heavy sweatshirts, winter jackets and beanies, and are encouraged to dress in layers.
“Our general protocol for ambulance calls is always to get the patient out of the elements as quickly and safely as possible.” Taylor said. “If we have a fire in these weather conditions, we will take the proper precautions to limit everyone’s time exposed by only using the necessary number of personnel outside for shorter periods of time before rotating guys around and using the ambulances as warming stations.”
Fires are common on bitterly cold days, he explained.
“There is always a higher possibility for a fire to occur on the colder days due to the heating equipment not being efficient and overloading circuit breakers with space heaters, and people trying to thaw frozen water lines with torches,” he said.
There are some things that it is safer to let a professional handle.
“I recommend if your water lines are frozen to call a plumber,” Taylor said. “Also if you need to supplement with space heaters, never plug them into an extension cord. Do not plug any other electrical devices into the same outlet as the space heater. Always place space heaters on level, flat surfaces.”
He issued a precaution to residents too.
“Lastly and most importantly, if you do not need to go out in these conditions don’t,” Taylor said. “If there is an absolute need to go out, dress appropriately in layers. It will not take long for frostbite to occur.”
