CITY URGES COMPLIANCE WITH ORDINANCE ON HOUSE NUMBERS

Although Cape Girardeau has a city ordinance requiring homes and businesses to be clearly numbered, the law is widely ignored, said Tom Hinkebein, city fire marshal.

As a result, Cape Girardeau firefighters routinely experience frustration when they can't find the location of an emergency call.

The ordinance, adopted in 1991, is clear: Numbers for homes should be visible from the street and at least four inches high; numbers for businesses should be at least six inches high. Numbers should be of contrasting color to the building, and script numbers are not permitted.

Technically, failure to properly number a home or business is a violation of the city ordinance, and property owners could be cited.

But fire inspector Charles Brawley said citations are not the solution.

"Please, let us serve you better," he said.

The fire department is asking property owners to go outside and take a look at the numbers to make sure they are visible.

"It's not so bad during the day," Brawley said. "But when we're responding to a call at 2 a.m., we are having trouble finding houses and businesses."

The situation came to a head last week when firefighters couldn't find a business with a small fire. "There was no visible smoke or flames and no visible numbers," he said.

"People don't always take this seriously," Brawley said. "They say `Look for the smoke.' But if it's a small fire, there might not be any smoke."

And medical emergencies, which make up a large number of firefighters' calls, generate no smoke.

Some Cape Girardeau streets have unpredictable numbering systems. Perryville Road, for example, has two 1600 blocks, separated by Cape Rock Drive.

Brawley said firefighters get to the general area of a call and literally have to split up and hunt for the right house. If the big fire trucks pass the correct address, they must be backed up, and that costs time.

"In our business seconds count," Brawley said. "A few minutes can mean the difference between saving a child trapped in a home or saving someone with a full-blown heart attack."

Occasionally, a company comes into town offering to paint house numbers on the curb. But Brawley and Hinkebein said that type of numbering isn't effective.

"You can't see those numbers if there is snow on the ground or if a car is parked in front of the number," Brawley said.

It's not just firefighters who experience the problem; police, ambulance, even delivery drivers have the same trouble.

He offered this advice:

-- For a typical subdivision with a front-entry garage, place the numbers over the overhead garage door.

-- In areas where the driveway is 50 feet or longer, install a sign at the edge of the street near the driveway.

-- Installing numbers on a post light or over a porch is recommended for residences without a front-entry garage.

-- When calling for emergency assistance, send someone outside to flag down the emergency vehicles.

"These things can give us the extra seconds needed to avoid a tragedy," he said.