When you call 911 in an emergency, emergency responders can lose precious minutes trying to locate the home, business, or other type of facility that requires assistance if address numbers are not EASILY and CLEARLY visible!
YOU can greatly assist in making this possible!
Some questions, tips and guidelines from the Mattawa Fire Department:
- Ask your friends, clients, and visitors if they can clearly see the property number.
- Is the property number clearly visible in both daylight and at night?
- Is there enough contrast in the numbers versus the background on which they are displayed?
- Are the numbers faded, do they need to be painted, or replaced?
- Are there lights near the numbers to make them more visible?
- Are the numbers reflective?
- Bigger is better!
- Recommendation for single-family homes is at least 4″ high lettering.
- Recommendation for multiple dwelling units is at least 6″ high lettering.
- Do the numbers face the street on which the property resides?
- Are the numbers visible in both directions? You never know in which direction emergency assistance may approach.
- If there is a driveway to a property, then the numbers need to be clearly visible at the accessing road.
- Trim, trim, trim…
- Bushes, flowers, vines, trees, weeds can easily obscure property numbers in spring, summer, and fall.
- Move anything that may obscure the property numbers.
- Winter surprises…
- Clear snow and ice to make all property numbers clearly visible.