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Page Last Updated:
Friday, 23 October 2009 |
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Home>When Your Numbers Up!
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| When your number’s up you needn’t worry, is the life-saving message from Loddon emergency services.
Residents are being urged to ensure they have the correct rural road number displayed at the entry to their properties so help is on the doorstep as swiftly as possible when trouble strikes.
The appeal follows several recent episodes where emergency services personnel have lost vital time trying to locate incorrectly or unnumbered homes in the dark.
“There was an incident just out of town and we were given an address and there was no number on any gate that remotely corresponded,” Wedderburn CERT team leader Lisa Barrass revealed.
“We went probably five kilometres past where we were supposed to be going. We came back, but still couldn’t find the relevant numbers and ended up having to ring our ambulance communication base.
“We lost a lot of time unnecessarily and that could have been fatal.
“People have to have the correct number on their houses and on their gates especially if they are out of town.
“There are some people who even still have the old rural mail box number on the gate and when they ring triple O they give their new number which means nothing if it is not displayed.”
Mrs Barrass estimates teams responding to as many in one in 20 call outs are frustrated by poor property identification.
“Honestly, it is not difficult to have the correct number on your gate or on your letterbox.
“We do have spotlights on our vehicles at night and we shine them on the side of the road and the reflective numbers show up beautifully.”
Loddon Shire technical officer Daniel Lloyd said all pre-existing properties had been issued with reflective numbers to affix to the front gates as part of the State Government’s rural addressing project.
“That project was completed in 2005 and since then it has been up to property owners to make sure they maintain the signage.
“If numbers have been lost or damaged they can be easily replaced by a visit to your local hardware store.
“New homes will be issued with rural road numbers after council officers sign off on the certificate of occupancy.”
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