Most of Anson County’s 1,300 fire hydrants haven’t been painted since they were installed decades ago. Retired county employee Fulton “Buffalo” Redfearn is working to change that, however.
For the past few weeks, Redfearn has returned to county work part-time, to service and paint all of the fire hydrants in the county.
“We were just doing maintenance when something came up,” said county utilities director Mike Sessions. “But now, he has a route he follows and he does maintenance and painting, whatever needs to be done.”
So far, Redfearn has painted and cut the grass around most of the fire hydrants in the Ansonville and Polkton areas of Highways 210 and 742. After that, he will work toward the Union County line, and then go to Lilesville and work to the Richmond County line, then Morven and McFarlan to the S.C. state line.
“I haven’t seen any yet that aren’t working but I know they’re out there,” Redfearn said.
“And he will fix them when he finds them,” Sessions added.
In larger cities like Charlotte, utilities departments have entire fire hydrant crews, Sessions said, but this is the first time Anson has had a dedicated employee to help maintain the hydrants here.
“We’re very proud of this program,” he said.
Sessions added that if county residents observe a fire hydrant that needs attention, they should contact his office at 704-694-5986.
Post a Comment
