When is the last time you drove past your own house and took a critical look at how easy it is to find it?
Who cares, right? You know where you live. Your friends know. You like mystery. You like anonymity. What’s the point?
The point is that you want to do ALL you can to make sure firefighters and emergency personnel can find your home quickly should there be an emergency. As an insurance agent, I always take note of this when I go to inspect homes. If I have trouble finding the home, so will others who may come to fight your fire or help save your life.
Seconds count when walls are burning or you can’t breathe. Make it easy for these folks and update your house number sign. Yes, you might have that “pretty” one in cursive font across your front porch wall, under the roof, burgundy on dark brown siding…guess what? It’s hard to see! Find a big, clear version and make sure there is some contrast. Consider one of these festive green or blue ones sold by your local fire company. They are a wonderful fundraiser, but they are also awesome in terms of visibility and reflectiveness at night!
Also, when the snow comes, make sure to be the great neighbor who cleans off the fire hydrant. Whether it’s your fire or someone else’s, wouldn’t it be nice if the firefighters could locate it quickly at 3AM when they respond? Every moment counts, so if they don’t know where it is, or have to dig it out first, it is wasted time. That could mean injury or loss of life for someone you know.
These are easy things to remember. Please share this post with others if you find it helpful!