You're home one winter evening and you smell something burning.

You check the rooms and notice a fire has started in the wall.You call the fire department and get everyone out safely.As volunteer crews arrive, you breathe a sigh of relief because help is here, but that is short-lived.As you stand there, you realize that the fire hydrant at the corner of your block is covered in snow.Crews immediately begin working to clear a path to the hydrant to allow for hose connections, and as they do, your house goes from a small electrical fire to a fully engulfed structure fire, and you watch helplessly as years of blood, sweat and tears begin to go up in smoke.A scenario like this can be avoided though, volunteer firefighters say. Area fire departments ask residents to be the first defense in the case of a fire by clearing a 3-foot area around hydrants after every snowstorm."Valuable time can be wasted by fire department personnel trying to locate or connect to a fire hydrant when minutes matter, especially after a snowfall," said John McArdle, fire chief of Nesquehoning Hose Company No. 1 and president of both the Carbon County Firemen's Association and the Carbon County Fire Chiefs Association."Citizens are urged to adopt a fire hydrant close to your home. While you are shoveling your sidewalks or plowing or blowing snow, take a few extra minutes and clear the snow away from a fire hydrant."The minutes you save (firefighters) may save someone's life," he said, adding that families also need to remember to check to make sure smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working properly as well.McArdle said that now that winter is baring its teeth, with two recent storms dropping a significant amount of snow across the region, it is extremely important to help firefighters out with the cleanup.Unfortunately, no end of winter is in sight as a number of potential storms are being tracked that could affect this area in the coming days.But remember, by clearing the hydrant, firefighters have a clear access point to connect hoses and can then battle the blaze more quickly.That means that the few minutes it takes you to shovel around the hydrant following a storm may mean the difference between saving your home if it catches fire, or losing everything.