Is Your Address Clearly Marked?
Did you know that when you dial 911 to summon an ambulance, our Highlands Volunteer Fire Department is also called out?
That's because most of our fires, Highlands residents just like you, are qualified as First Responders. They have extensive first aid training and the knowledge and ability to handle a medical emergency until the ambulance arrives. Because they are already in the District, they can respond more quickly than an ambulance coming from Langford or Victoria General Hospital. And because they know the area, they can find your home quickly and direct the ambulance to you at a time when minutes, even seconds, matter.
Or can they find your home? Our bylaws give clear direction regarding the size, nature, and placement of house numbers, information that has been published repeatedly in this publication and others. And yet, a surprising number of our residents do not have their properties properly marked.
Can you imagine the stress placed on a volunteer firefighter who is rushing to help you when he or she has to guess which unmarked driveway is yours?
Please help us help you. It takes only a very short time to put up a clearly visible house number, or to check that the one that has stood at the end of the driveway for years has not faded and is not blocked by brush. Your volunteer firefighters will be grateful.
And it could save a life.
Bylaw No. 72 states: "Every person owning or occupying a building in the District of Highlands shall affix and keep affixed the number assigned to that building in a secure position within thirty feet of where the driveway access to the parcel intersects the highway from which it gains access and in a position clearly visible from the highway, and the number shall be not less than four inches in height placed on a contrasting background." Further: "No owner of a building or parcel which has been assigned a number shall display or fail to cause to be displayed any other number than the number assigned."
The maximum fine for violation of this bylaw is $10,000.
Highlands Fire Department
East Hall 479-1814
West Hall 474-2633
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