A beaver has built a dam at a Bull Run Road pond the Greene Fire Department uses to fill its tankers, helping to correct a problem of erosion that kept the water level too low for firefighters to use the hydrant. Because of the beaver, a $4,000 engineering fix is no longer needed as the water level is now high enough for the hydrant to be used. Photo courtesy of Greene Fire Chief John Soucy
Do you suppose somebody makes a fireman’s helmet that will fit a semiaquatic rodent? Because as far as the Greene Fire Department is concerned, there’s a certain beaver along Bull Run Road that deserves a spot on the roster.
The department’s fire pond was brought up to level recently, and town taxpayers were possibly saved thousands of dollars, when a beaver constructed a dam in just the right place at just the right time.
Who needs a crew of engineers when you’ve got buck teeth and a long flat tail?
“A couple years ago we had noticed the level in the fire pond on Bull Run Road was very low and actually got to the level where the hydrant was out of service,” Greene Fire Chief John Soucy explains. “We thought it was due to the drought and the water level never had a chance to recover. This past spring we had noticed that the spillway had eroded to the point that it would not allow the pond level to rise.”
For years, the department had been using the pond to haul water to areas where there are no fire hydrants. The pond water is considered a crucial part of the department’s firefighting efforts in rural areas. So, with that in mind, fire officials glumly went about trying to deduce what they’d need to shore up that eroded spillway and to bring the pond up to snuff.
By some estimates, repairs would have cost up to $4,000. But that was before the unnamed beaver, a member of a species best known for its dam building abilities, went to work for free.
“Recently we began to make plans to fix the problem,” Soucy said, “but noticed that the pond level had risen suddenly, and when we looked into it further we noticed that a beaver had built a dam at the spillway, raising the water level to the point where the hydrant is now in service. The beaver saved the town of Greene thousands of dollars in repairs to the fire pond.”
The hero beaver has yet to be spotted in action, yet there is evidence that his or her work continues in service to the fire department.
“He is currently maintaining that dam,” Soucy said, “and the department’s plans to fix the spillway have been canceled.”
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