CHENANGO COUNTY – Imagine standing outdoors in your slippers and robe on a freezing mid-February night, watching your home and its contents ablaze as you wait for firefighters to arrive.

Firefighters get there quickly, but because the fire hydrant in front of your house is buried in snow and ice, time is wasted because they have to dig it out – precious minutes you can never get back.

With the recent large amounts of snowfall leaving nearly six-feet-high piles of snow along county curbsides, area fire departments are calling on community members to ensure that the all important hydrants are cleared in the event of a fire emergency by “adopting a hydrant.”