Precious Time – Help us Help You Faster
· If just one person who reads this, clearly post their address on their residence, it will make it much easier for police, fire, or medical personnel to find you when needed. It not only makes our jobs easier; it could save your life.
· NO EXCUSES!
· Not your house? Waiting for the landlord to do it? Too expensive? Too complicated? Don’t know how to do it?
· Whether it is your house or not, renting or buying, owner or roommate, even if it’s an apartment unit that isn’t visibly posted, do it yourself. It could mean the difference between life and death. There is nothing more frustrating to me than getting dispatched to a “hot” call, and having to run around, wasting time looking for the house.
Here is what you do:
· If there is no address on your house, put it on. Hardware stores offer a large variety of house numbers ranging from stick-on numbers for a few dollars, to fancy wood ones that can be stained or painted. The most popular I see are the plastic numbers you simply tack up using small nails or screws.
· If you have vegetation, trees, or bushes growing over the numbers, trim back the branches or move the numbers to a more visible location.
· Don’t put the numbers in a spot hard to see, like on a roof trim, or on a tree. We usually first look right next to the door or porch area, especially at night where the porch light will light up the numbers. Remember, the numbers should be clearly visible both day and night. A good spot is on a wall, door trim, or window trim that faces the street.
· Alot of builders are now installing lighted address boxes which mount on the front of your house, and are wired into your house 12 volt power supply, usually the doorbell wiring. These are by far the quickest to spot at night, since they are lighted. But they have two 12 volt bulbs inside which do occasionally burn out. If the bulbs burn out, please replace them. The bulbs only cost a buck or so. You can find the lighted address boxes at your local home improvement store.
· You don’t have to get too fancy, and please use color contrast. White numbers on a white house, or blue numbers on a blue house are hard to see in the day, and impossible to see at night. Dark numbers on a light colored house or light numbers on a dark house will work fine.
· Some fund raising organizations offer to paint your address on the curbside in front of your house for a small donation. They usually paint a white background, and then spray or brush black numbers using stencils. These are simple to do yourself, and are very visible and effective.
· Use numbers that can be seen from the street. Little fancy numbers that look cute a few feet away may not be readable from the street.
