Visible House Numbers = Faster Emergency Response

Panama City, FL – When seconds count, clear and visible house numbers help first responders quickly find where a 9-1-1 call originated, potentially making a huge difference in the outcome of an emergency.

The Bay County Board of County Commissioners hopes to alleviate issues caused by illegible or absent identifiers by launching a new campaign to urge residents to comply with state law requiring that property address numbers are visible and easily seen from the roadway.

“We want to encourage people to make certain that they have visible numbering on their properties so that when our first responders go out to help, they can find the correct location,” Bay County Commissioner Bill Dozier said. Dozier said the county’s 9-1-1 system is designed to work with property numbers. “So often when they’re looking for an address it’s not displayed at all, much less properly,” Dozier said. “We just want to bring this to folks’ attention so they can make that correction if necessary. A lot of times lives depend on it.”

Florida Building Code and Bay County’s ordinance require that residential buildings display address numbers that are at least four inches tall and commercial buildings display numbers that are at least six inches tall and that they be visible from the street or roadway fronting the property. They must also contrast with their background and be in numerals, rather than spelled out.

The purpose of the county’s push to make the numbers visible is not intended to be punitive, Dozier said. “We just really want to help our first responders help our citizens and visitors,” he said.

For more information call: (850) 248-8170 or (850) 814-6122 or email vsale@baycountyfl.gov or check out the webpage at: www.baycountyfl.gov