Hopkins is asking residents to help clear snow that has buried fire hydrants around town.

The deep snow prevents firefighters from hooking up hoses in the event of an emergency, as happened Tuesday with a St. Paul fire.

Public Works Director Steve Stadler said the city is in the process of clearing snow from the hydrants and that it is not residents' responsibility to care for them. However, Hopkins encourages residents to help if they can by shoveling snow away from buried hydrants on their block.

Snow should be cleared four feet on each side of the hydrant if possible so that emergency vehicles have easy access.

Shoveling snow on sidewalks, on the other hand, is the responsibility of property owners. The city issued 12 tickets for failing to clear snow during the last snowstorm, Stadler said. It had to clear sidewalks itself for two of those properties and bill the owners. One of those properties is vacant.

"It wasn't too bad considering the magnitude of what people were dealing with," he said.