20 July 2010
Emergency services are having trouble finding rural properties in the district because some property numbers are not visible.
Waipa District Council is responsible for numbering properties, but the responsibility to display a property number rests with landowners.
Council offers highly visible blue reflective address plates to landowners for $25 each. Landowners are not obliged to buy them, but they are encouraged to so that their property numbers can be seen day and night by emergency services.
In the six months from January to June 2010, only one out of 23 new rural property landowners purchased a blue reflective address plate. Others do not have numbers or chose to use other numbers which may not show up at night.
“Emergency services rely on rural properties having clearly displayed addresses that can be seen day and night. In an emergency situation, every minute counts and it would be a senseless tragedy if a life was lost or a house burned down because emergency services couldn’t find a property number,” manager, planning and regulatory Wayne Allan said.
Mr Allan said all rural landowners must ensure entranceways to their properties are safe and visible and have been constructed to allow access for emergency vehicles, including large fire trucks.
“Older properties may not have been subject to today’s subdivision standards and landowners need to make sure emergency services can get their vehicles through the property’s entranceway in an emergency.”
Landowners building new vehicle entrance ways or moving or upgrading existing entrance ways apply to the council for approval prior to work starting. Council engineers then inspect the work to ensure entrances meet required standards and will allow easy access in an emergency.
Isolated properties should also have a New Zealand Fire Service compatible fitting on the base of their water tank for use by a fire engine if necessary.
For more information, please contact:
Jeanette Tyrrell
Ph: 07 872 0097 or 027 293 8679
Email: jeanette.tyrrell@waipadc.govt.nz