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Is your civic address posted on your property?

If not, how will First Responders find your address if an emergency arises?
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Have you ever had to call for emergency services to attend your property? Hopefully not. But if you do, will First Responders be able to quickly find your property, even in the dark, or while battling a snow storm?

When a loved one is in need of medical care, no one wants to be on the telephone trying to explain how to find the residence where they are, especially living in a rural area where all driveways look the same. Directions such as “turn left at the big rock and right at the cedar tree” leave much to be desired.

Posting your civic address takes only a small amount of effort, but it can life saving rewards

A civic address is a numbering system relating to road names that provides the location of a building or property. It includes a unit number, if necessary, a civic number and a street name. This applies to municipal and/or rural areas of B.C.

You not only need your address to enable easy, visible reference for emergency service. You also need it for your mail, utilities, telecommunications, and to help visitors find you.

Your address is issued by local government, in this case the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD). If you do not already have a civic address or are unaware of what your address is, you can fill out a TNRD form to get an address created for your property or the TNRD will automatically issues you one if you have applied for a building permit. If a parcel of land has no buildings (i.e. ‘improvements’ on your property taxes) there is typically no address and it is identified by its legal description from its certificate of title or PID (Parcel Identification Number).

Emergency Service TNRD forwards your civic number to emergency services, the Province, utilities (Telus), BCA, etc., so it is critical that what you use as your address matches the records ain their database.​

The TNRD urges civic addresses to be posted for all existing developed properties voluntarily, but the proper posting of a civic address is required by bylaw for new developments. More specifically, the TNRD requires your civic address to be posted prior to Occupancy Permit issuance in the case of a new building or dwelling, a manufactured home placement, a major addition to or renovation of a building, or a major change in occupancy.

In order to encourage property owners to post the address of their property in a visible manner the TNRD offers a program that will provide a custom civic address sign for only $15 each to any land owners or building permit applicants in TNRD electoral areas.

These signs are double-sided, reflective white/green, vinyl covered aluminum with 4” high numerals, in conformance with TAC (Transportation Association of Canada) standards. The sign material is reasonably impervious to UV and climate and retains visual clarity at a distance night or day.

The signs are double sided so if they are hung in a strategic way they can be seen from both sides on a roadway. They can also be screwed onto a solid backing. You may require two signs to provide easy visibility for vehicles approaching from opposite directions, as your sign must be visible at night from a vehicle on the public access road.

Your sign must be visible at night from the public access road. This is why the sign is double sided and reflective. The signs can also be made so the numbers show horizontal or vertical.

Barriere First Responder, Azriel Kowtek, is an advocate for encouraging area residents to make sure they have their civic address posted in a visible place on their property.

“These really help emergency services find you when you need us,” says Kowtek, “In rural areas these are especially helpful.”

In a recent social media discussion regarding posting your address for First Responders, area resident Charlene Bugera commented, “This is very much needed on the rural roads around Barriere. I know on Agate Bay Road its hard to find places because of the way that the road is numbered people always think (my relatives) are at the other end of Agate Bay Road. The last time the ambulance had to come out for them the ambulance drove right past the driveway and I had to chase them down and show them where the house was.”

If you would like to learn more or order a sign go to: www.tnrd.ca, where you can find the TNRD Civic Addressing Pamphlet, or you can contact the TNRD for more information at: 250-377-8673.

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news@starjournal.net

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