Winter has really shown up in River Forest the last couple of weeks. We’ve had , EXTREME COLD, snow again and now a short but very quick warm-up. With these quickly changing weather events, dams and large Icicles are a very real problem. Although they can be a beautiful form of art, they can also be dangerous. How do icicles form?? The heat emanating from homes, cause snow or ice to melt and then refreeze into icicles hanging from gutters, the edges of roofs, windows, or any place is able to drip. Continued cold temperatures with period of slight warming trends also create icicles that “grow” and become larger, longer, and exponentially more danger- ous to those who pass below them. The numbers of people injured or killed every year by falling icicles is still going up and the news isn’t good. The River Forest Fire Department would like to remind everyone of the danger of falling ice with the following safety tips.

SAFETY TIPS FOR FALLING ICE

 Be aware of your surroundings and watch the sky above if you are close to a building, house or cell tower for falling ice. Don’t let the complacency bug bite you and end up injured or even worse.  Be aware most ice falls within 5-10 ft of domestic buildings but can travel as far out as 50-100 ft from a cell tower.  80 TO 90 MPH That is the rate at which a half-pound icicle three inches in diameter falls from a 30-story building, according to terminal-velocity calculations by Andreas Schroeder, a physics professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.  1,000 LBS. The force with which the half-pound icicle hits. “That is the rough equivalent of a couple of people on a stiletto-shoe heel on top of your head,” UIC’s Schroeder says. “Roughly the same as a five-ounce baseball thrown by a Major League pitcher hitting you in the head.”  Wear a hard hat when entering any cell site.  You should not stand under areas with icicles above.  Never place a ladder directly against a gutter covered with ice or icicles the pressure of the ladder against the gutter may cause the ice or icicles to dislodge, falling on the per- son or property below or breaking and sliding down the rungs of the ladder into you.