Valley firefighters are asking residents to clear the snow from around their fire hydrants.

"If you are physically able to remove the snow from around the fire hydrants, we would greatly appreciate it. It makes it safer for everyone," said Captain Tom O'Hara of the Austintown Fire Department.
O'Hara said snow plow trucks cover the hydrants when they drive by.

"Nowadays, with the materials that are in the house, we have less than five minutes before we have a well-involved fire and if we can cut time off there connecting to the hydrant then that's more time we have to extinguish the fire and protect your valuables."

Austintown Fire Department uses an app called Active 911 to help them locate the fire hydrants when they are called out to a burning structure.

"Now all we have to do is pull up this app that we have loaded all the hydrants into and we can locate them quickly," O'Hara said.