Homeowners turning to water sprinklers to fight the drought and wildfires

The unseasonably warm weather has hardware stores stocking out-of-season supplies. News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson says at issue is water sprinkler sales. <br/><br/>During the winter months homeowners

Monday, January 16th 2006, 12:36 pm

By: News On 6

The unseasonably warm weather has hardware stores stocking out-of-season supplies. News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson says at issue is water sprinkler sales.

During the winter months homeowners donâ€™t usually worry about watering their grass, but with this year's fire hazards that's exactly what people are doing.

The only sprinkles you can count on are those from a garden hose. This part of the state hasn't had a soaking rain since October. So homeowners have been dragging out their sprinklers to dampen the chances of wildfires.

Lots of folks who don't have sprinklers are buying them. At Jodie Sanders' Westlake ACE Hardware store, sprinklers are selling like hot cakes. In fact, they've seen some shortages since they don't usually keep sprinklers on hand in winter. "We don't usually stock these kind of inventory levels this time of year, so we've had some issues getting some items in."

Over the weekend, folks near Collinsville were feeling the heat, and pulled out their sprinklers to keep wildfires away from their homes.