Address visibility still an E-911 concern

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BANGOR – Too often the desperate voice of an ambulance driver comes over the crackle of a police scanner asking dispatchers for a landmark so the driver can find the location of the emergency to which he’s been sent.

At times the property has not been marked clearly and emergency medical service personnel are wasting valuable time looking for the address.

Enhanced-911, the emergency telephone system, officially came to Maine in 2001, but how street numbers on buildings are displayed still is a major issue in many locales.

“There are two challenges we face,” Maria Jacques, the state’s Enhanced-911 database manager, said Thursday. “One is getting people to post their numbers – there is no question that’s an issue.”

Finding summer residents at their private camps, which often lack displayed street numbers, is the other.

“The other is seasonal [residents] and renters. We don’t know where these people are,” Jacques said. “Many people only associate their address with mail delivery. It’s more than that.”

The big concern is response time, Bangor Assistant Fire Chief Rick Cheverie said recently. Every second counts, especially in an emergency, the fire official stressed.

“It wastes time,” he said.

“If [the address] was on the house and clearly visible, it makes it easier for emergency responders.”

A Court Street fire that occurred several weeks ago is a perfect example of the situation, Cheverie said. A Bangor firetruck first drove past the home because of an incorrect number display. Unable to back up because other emergency vehicles were following it, the truck was forced to stop a house away, which put the firefighters farther away from their equipment.

Many address problems for emergency services occur when backup units are called in to an unfamiliar area, fire officials said.

“The first responders and our crews are used to the area, and we’re familiar with the streets and roads,” said Brian Smickle, Orrington Ambulance Services chief of services. “I think it is more the outside agencies and mutual-aid departments not being familiar with the town [that have problems].”

The state Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Services Communications Bureau recommends marking buildings with 4-inch numbers that contrast with the building’s color. The numbers also should be visible from the road.

Properties that lie beyond 50 feet from the road should be marked with numbers on a post, wall or mailbox that is near the roadway. Officials also suggest numbering both sides of these items so emergency services can read the number no matter from which direction they come.

The public’s expectations about the capabilities of E-911 are too high, Brewer Fire Department Chief Rick Bronson said during a recent interview.

Emergency personnel have to be able to find those who need help, the fire chief said.

“They now think if they call in and collapse, 911 will find them,” he said. “The public’s expectations are that somehow it’s magic. Ideally people need to know their address and be able to say it [when they call]. There are all kinds of ways to defeat E-911.”

Cell phone calls also cause obstacles because no location comes into the dispatch office with these calls, the Brewer chief said. With land-line phone calls, addresses are displayed on dispatch equipment.

Residents all over Maine are connected to E-911, except for one community in northern Maine that doesn’t want to give up local control, Jacques said.

“Everyone in the state, except the town of Lincoln, can call 911,” she said. “They’ve done their addressing, but they do not want their 911 calls going to the county. The people in Lincoln still have to call a seven- digit number [for emergency services].”

Lincoln residents are paying for E-911 but are not getting the services, the state official said.

The state started E-911 addressing in 1996, and only about 40 communities in the state still await address displays on dispatch equipment.

“They represent about 46,000 [people] who don’t have E-911 addresses at this point,” Jacques said. “That’s pretty good. We’re still working on it.”

Trying to find addresses is an everyday occurrence for Bob Campbell, a driver for Project Ride, which provides transportation for elderly and handicapped people.

Campbell also serves as chairman of the Glenburn Town Council. He recently asked the council for $15,000 to provide municipal-purchased numbering for 1,500 locations in town at $10 per sign. The request was denied at the April council meeting.

“They said, ‘Yes, we do need proper numbering, but we’re not going to ask the taxpayers to fund it,'” the chairman said. “They realize the importance – money is the issue.”

Campbell said he is looking into other ways to fund the project, but is at a loss as to where to start.

“I don’t know where to look,” he said. “I’d like to see the people try to do it themselves.”

Bangor has taken a proactive stance on numbering, according to Assistant Fire Chief Cheverie.

“In the city of Bangor, we have people out there looking specifically at these issues,” he said. “If we find a place [without proper numbers], we send [the address] over to the code enforcement officer, and he goes over and educates the property owner.

“It’s to their benefit that they do identify their home,” Cheverie said.