Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Nebraska county seeks ways to get address signs in rural areas to guide emergency personnel

A small Nebraska county 35 miles from Omaha has been struggling for years with a simple but common dilemma – trying to find a way to post signs in rural areas to guide emergency personnel to specific addresses. Dodge County, population 37,000, has spent 15 years debating the issue, but still, there are no visible signs among nearly 6,000 rural homes.

"Rural firefighters and county officials have been in agreement that individual address signs would be beneficial, but the hang-up over the years has been how to pay for them," Chris Zavadil reports for the Fremont Tribune. Carl Nielsen, president of the Dodge County Firefighters Association, said: “Basically, the cost is going to be the big thing. I think we all realize we need them. When you’re out (on a call) at 2 o’clock in the morning, it’s pretty hard to keep your eyes open let alone try to find what you’re looking for. There have been incidents all over the county of extended response times because you can’t find places.”

An editorial in the Tribune opines, "It seems like a simple concept. So simple, in fact, that it makes you wonder why it hasn’t been done yet. But after more than 15 years of on-again, off-again debate, rural Dodge County residents still aren’t required to have one of the most basic safety features for their homes – address signs. This much is certain: It’s time to require address signs throughout the county. Neighboring counties figured out a solution years ago. It’s time our supervisors do the same thing."

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