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In an emergency, a few seconds can make a life-saving difference to a police officer, firefighter or EMT. Could we find your house quickly, with the proper address prominently displayed and visible to passing vehicles? Even if you currently use a post office box for mail delivery, it is essential that you display a street address at your house. Here are some helpful tips to be sure we can find your house in the event of an emergency:

• Address numbers should be displayed at the primary access entrance, like a driveway or private road, on a mailbox, post, fence or other suitable location that is easily discernible from the road. If your house is very close to the road, and your front door is visible to the road, display the address on, above, or at the side of the front door.
• To save time, make sure you don’t spell out your address, but use actual numerals.
• The numerals displayed should be at least 3 inches in height on a contrasting background, like black numbers on a white background. The best to use are reflective numbers, so the address is very visible at night.
• If the mailbox is not located on the named road from which the number has been assigned, you should display the entire address (number and road name) on the mailbox to avoid confusion.
• If you kept your favorite mailbox from a previous house make sure you remove any old numbers so the address cannot be mistaken.
• Check the condition of the address once a year to make sure weeds, rust or fading paint don’t hide your address.
• If your driveway is shared with several other homes, be sure to display your address both at the road and on your house, to avoid confusion.