For some time now, we’ve been discussing how to ‘get ready’ for an emergency - - basic stuff that you are either going to do or wish that you had!! But what about the REALLY basic concept of preparing - - whether you live in town or out in the county, if you had an emergency and needed help could someone find your house?

Do you live right on the road or do you live two miles off that road down a dirt road behind those trees? Are you aware that when you dial 9-1-1, for help, that your physical address will come up on the dispatchers screen if you have a 9-1-1 address? [Remember when we all went through those address changes when this began!!] But even if the dispatcher has your correct address and sends help right away, if you do NOT have your address properly marked - - how are they supposed to find you?

Let’s do a little ‘9-1-1 address 101’ - - if your physical address has 3 numbers, you live less than a mile from the beginning of your road. [Example: 302 CR 126 is 3 tenths of a mile down CR 126 from where it intersects off of CR 114; 607 Hwy 16 S is 6 tenths of a mile South on Hwy 16 from the intersection of 16 and 190]. If your address is 4605 CR 340 you live 4 miles and 6 tenths down CR 340 from where it comes off of Hwy 190. 12450 Hwy 190 E is 12 miles and 4 tenths East of the intersection of 16 and 190.

Do you see the pattern here? 4 numbers [or more] the mileage is first, then the tenths, hundredths, etc. Anything less than 4 numbers means that it is LESS than a mile. And did you happen to notice that some of the numbers ended evenly and some odd - - there’s an answer there, too. If your address ends evenly you should be on the right [as you drive down the road] and an odd number means on the left. [So the 302 and 12450 above should put these houses on the right, 607 and 4605 should be on the left!]

{Now a disclaimer here - - all this being said, there will always be exceptions to every rule but for the biggest part what you see above should be the rule of thumb!]

Now that you know how to read your address here should come the easy part - - putting up your address so that it can be found by the emergency response personnel WHEN YOU NEED THEM! If you have a mailbox or even a fence post near your entrance, this is a good spot to put up some kind of notification. You can go to the store and purchase those Mail I.D. kits [you know the ones with the green reflective metal oblong piece with the white numbers that you can put on both sides] that can be attached to your mailbox, the post that your mailbox is on or the fence post, so that anyone coming down your road could see at a glance that this is the entrance that they need to take.

{The Sheriff’s office and the Office of Emergency Management will be having discussions, when school starts again, with the shop teachers to see if we can work up a program so that the classes can use something like this as a project throughout the year for our residents - - watch for more information!!}

This is one of the easiest ways that you can prepare for an emergency that could happen to you or your family. We’ve talked about making sure that you have identification to carry with you if you have to evacuate - - this is the same principle – do you have the proper identification for someone to find you in an emergency?

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is.

The way that you cope with it is what makes the difference.”