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Warming centers open across Butler County to provide shelter from cold

A number of volunteer fire departments are opening their doors Friday for people who need a place to warm up.

The Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company, 162 Elm St., Slippery Rock, and Unionville Volunteer Fire Company, 102 Mahood Rd, Butler, have opened as warming stations to ensure community members have a secure place to outlast recent power outages within Butler County, according to dispatchers.

Cranberry Volunteer Fire Department has also opened a warming station at the township’s municipal center at 2525 Rochester Rd, Cranberry Twp, PA 16066, dispatchers said.

Unionville VFC’s Chief Nathan Wulff said he anticipates that some wires in the county might be down for awhile, so first responders are ready to keep these warming stations open for the long-haul. So far no one has visited the warming station, he said.

“We’re going to continue to stay open,” he said. “We’ll have people here most of the day, and then recommend that people just stay indoors and don’t go out on the roads unless they absolutely need to.”

He said once the temperature plunges below a certain level, the salt becomes less effective at melting snow.

“So pretty much all the roads around here are snow-covered ... It’s not the best circumstances to be out driving.”

The Grapevine Center on North Elm Street, which normally has winter drop-in hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is closed Friday and Monday.

Glade Run Lutheran Services also operates a warming center from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. at Calvary Church’s Grace Wellness Center at 123 E. Diamond Street

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