If you drive down Winnetka Avenue in New Hope, you'll see that every fire hydrant along Winnetka is wrapped in clear plastic.
No, it's not a Valentine's Day gift... but it's a new concept in New Hope.
"It's the talk of the town, a lot of people don't know what it's for," Bernie Weber said. "The hydrants actually have a mechanical nut on top and chemicals are getting inside that nut, which causes them to freeze up."
Weber is the Director of New Hope Public Works. He said this year, they decided to play defense even before winter began. By bagging the hydrants near heavily chemically treated roads, they can make sure the nuts aren't difficult to unscrew for fire crews. It also cuts down work for the Public Works crew come spring.
"We go around, take all the nuts apart and oil them every year," Weber said. "They are lubed for emergency situations to make sure they're operating."
Currently the hydrants that sit along heavily traveled county roads within New Hope are donning the plastic bags. This includes the hydrants on Winnetka, Bass Lake Road, Medicine Lake Road as well as 42nd Avenue.
Bagged hydrants don't necessarily mean it's downtime for Weber's crews. Public Works employees are currently working on another project of tackling high snow mounds.
Weber said when there's a ton of snow, it's difficult to plow and prevent the pile of snow from becoming too high. On Wednesday, Weber had crews out "winging" the roads, making sure the snow mounds aren't too high. He said winging also helps to create more snow storage space in case yet another snow event occurs.
While his crews are out improving the roads, Weber said it would be music to his ears if residents pledged to dig out a nearby buried hydrant.
"We encourage residents-- if there is a hydrant by your house, please try to maintain it," Weber said. "There are so many throughout the city that the staff's not able to maintain and remove all the snow from all of it. If you can help us, great."
As for the snow mounds, the City of St. Paul spokesperson said their plow drivers try to minimize making piles that are too high during snow emergencies. If they do create high mounds, they say plow drivers will try to knock them down if they have time.
If you have an area or an intersection in St. Paul that you are concerned about, you can reach out directly to snowemergency@ci.stpaul.mn.us to flag the city's attention.
We have reached out to Minneapolis for comment but have not heard back on their plans for maintaining snow mounds.