During emergencies, every second can make a difference. One of the difficult parts of responding to fire and ems emergencies is finding the right location.
Imagine if you will, a call for a medical emergency late at night, an ambulance crew is responding down a dark street or country road. Will they be able to find your house? Is your address clearly visible at night or in bad weather?
We spend a good deal of training time working hard to become familiar with our district, but even so it is impossible to know the exact location of every home on every street. So we ask for the assistance of our citizens. Help us to help you by making sure your address is clearly visible.
Some guidelines to think about for homes in the city:
- Use large numbers on your home
- Make sure the numbers are a color that stands out and are easily visible from the street
- If possible, make sure your porch or other light illuminates your house number
- Address numbers painted on the curb are good, but difficult to see from a distance
- Large reflective numbers on your mailbox near the road are very helpful
And some guidelines for our rural citizens:
- Use large (at least 3 or 4") reflective numbers on the sides of your mail box
- Make sure your address is on both sides of your mailbox.
- If your house sits far back from the road, please make sure the driveway is marked and clearly visible
- Consider purchasing a large reflective address sign, of the type sold at local retailers and mounting in on your mailbox post or other location, clearly visible from both directions on your road.
When you have an emergency we want to get to you as quickly as we can, please help us by making sure your home address is easy to find in all conditions. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact South Metro Fire Headquarters at (816) 331-3008.