A visible street number on your home could mean the difference between life and death in an emergency situation.
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That is why Kempsey Shire Council is supporting a campaign to encourage households to make sure their property number is clearly visible from the street.
The campaign, prompted by local emergency services, involves increasing awareness through media and social media as well as writing directly to those properties that have been identified as poorly numbered.
Council’s Community Safety Project Officer, Marilyn Breen, said earlier this year, when emergency services were called to provide assistance during the recent bushfires in the Macleay, they came across a large amount of properties where the home numbers were obscured, faded, hard to find and in some cases not there.
“One of the big issues identified was the valuable time lost at critical stages of the emergency response in trying to locate correct property numbers,” Ms Breen said.
“Making sure the street number for your property is clearly displayed on a letterbox or on a front fence is a basic part of an emergency plan that we are asking everyone to check.
“This simple action can save lives.”
The last twelve months have seen the community battle a range of emergency situations and natural disasters such as bushfires and a landslip.
Ms Breen said it is therefore vital that every household takes practical steps to be disaster ready by having an emergency plan in place.
“Living in a rural environment with significant waterways means that emergency events can be extreme and can happen quickly,” she said.
“Being resilient to meet those challenges requires being proactive, thinking through a plan and making sure you have talked about it so everyone in the family understands.”
For more information about planning for an emergency go to: www.kempsey.nsw.gov.au/prepare