Security & Fraud

Safety in numbers

If we want to speed up the response time from our emergency professionals, whether it be fire, police or ambulance we need to take some initiative which starts with installing well lit house numbers.

There is nothing more frustrating and time consuming than trying to find somebody's home with improper house number markings. After years and years of frustration trying to pinpoint a home to an address, I can only imagine what our emergency professionals go through when a life's at stake. 

If your one of those people who have your house address numbers buried under an overgrown shrub or have an incomplete address through missing numbers or worse yet, don't even have your house numbers installed on your home, you are playing with fire.

Especially if an emergency arises and the emergency response team wastes valuable life saving time trying to locate a home with a poorly marked address.

I have been to homes where it's almost impossible to see the micro sized house numbers located at the top left corner of the garage during the day. One can only imagine trying to locate a residence once darkness has set in, I can only compare it to finding a needle in a haystack. 

With security being on everybody's mind these days, we must take a look at the total package. The heart of the package is the emergency response time. We must assist the 911 operator by answering his or her questions as calmly as we can.

After all the information has been gathered by the 911 operator, it's now up to our house numbers to guide the emergency services to our home as quickly as possible. 

Solar powered house numbers are an excellent choice because they're not only highly visible during the day but they also light up at night. These units automatically recharge completely during the day in about one hour. The only requirement is they must have an unobstructed view of the sky, they do not require direct exposure to the sun.

Once they have been charged, they will hold 1000 hours of reserve operational power which means they could operate for 3 months before they would need recharging. Most types of solar powered house numbers can be seen from over 100 feet away.

Because there is no wiring involved, these waterproof units are easy to install with simple screws and wall plugs. Imagine as soon as it gets dark the LED turns on automatically, lighting up your house numbers. 

The next time you visit your local home improvement center, don't overlook the importance of solar powered house numbers, they might just save your life!

Please check out my new Web site at www.yourhomesecurity.ca or e-mail me at . Columns 2006 2005 2004