Plumbers mark end of cold spell and the huge wave of calls it caused

Cold weather led to a surge in calls for help to local plumbers, as pipes froze, furnaces quit, and heat evaporated out of homes. 

One of the local groups responding to the chilly calls was Crutch's Plumbing and Heating. Their staff was hard at work over the weekend, braving the -40 C temperatures to go out and ensure people's homes were heated and their pipes were being saved and repaired. 

Kevin Broccolo, one of the owners and president of Crutch's Plumbing and Heating in Swift Current, has been hard at work himself, responding to calls at all hours. Some came in as late or early as 4 a.m.

"It was a little ridiculous," said Broccolo. "Saturday was like 6:30 in the morning till pretty much 9:30 at night."

The frigid winter air was the coldest Swift Current had seen since 1992. This time, the polar vortex had the phone at Crutch's ringing for help, calling in some 12-13 hour days. 

Most of the calls were for frozen furnace vents, low propane tanks, and frozen pipes. 

"Lots of stuff to do with people that were on propane," said Broccolo. "Their propane tanks weren't really full. If that's the case, then the propane won't vaporize and burn."

Some of the more major incidents Crutch's saw in Swift Current were the Comfort Inn freezing, and having its sprinkler system kick on in the hallway. 

Another was the local KFC having a frozen water line that did indeed burst. 

"That was kind of our biggest and most time-consuming job," said Broccolo. "Then a couple of apartments where in the northwest corner, the wind whipped in and froze up some boiler rads and stuff like that."

For information on how to protect your home during extreme cold events, check out the linked article below.