🪧Civic Address Initiative, Part 8 – Committed To The Community

The Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade in Colchester County has been actively engaged in providing free civic signs to those that need them within their fire district limits.

Since December, I’ve been actively engaged in the Annapolis Valley, doing research and highlighting the importance of having your civic sign displayed.

I felt it was important to share that I’m not the only one who realizes that this is a pressing issue across the province and there are others who are working to make a difference, promoting this important message in other areas.

Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade began this project as a way to give back to the community, who have shown the Brigade such great support through the Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50.

When they looked at different ideas to say thank you for the support from the raffle, they chose to do it their way. The Debert Fire Brigade had already begun installing signs for residents, but Onslow felt this was important and fell in line with their neighbours!

Taking on this project doesn’t only benefit the fire department, but also benefits many of their partnering agencies, such as EHS, RCMP, nurses, carrier companies and many others who rely on locating a property.

“We often would have a call that would be difficult to find. If you get a big blaze, and you could see it, that wasn’t a problem, but when you get a medical call and time really matters, and you drive by the driveway because the ambulance drove by it, and you thought the ambulance knew where they were going, you waste 2 or 3 minutes trying to find someone. That’s a big concern.” Stated Ian Crowe Chair of the civic signs committee with Onslow Fire Brigade.

With medical calls being the most common call in their district, having civic signs displayed could make a huge difference in the event of an emergency daily.

Approximately 20 years ago, Onslow began a similar initiative. At that time, residents in the community paid for their signs.

Over the past year, they have been promoting that signs are available for free on social media and their website for residents in their fire district —– > onslowbelmontfire.com

After a decline in interest from online platforms, they kept on the pulse. With some persistent canvassing of their whole fire district and leaving letters at properties they felt needed a sign, more orders began coming in.

The project has been making waves in Colchester County with Debert taking the lead and Onslow Belmont along with North River Fire Brigades also offering signs as well.

Since this started for Onslow, they have provided approximately 500 installed signs to property owners in their community and continue to install more as needed. 

“Once you’re organized good, it’s really easy to do. It took us a little while to get our heads around it and make it work, but it’s not as labour intensive as we thought it was going to be.” Stated Crowe.

Ian touched on how they made the project such a success, by having an order form online which is user-friendly, notifying members of an order.

From there, they work to get the signs and stakes and plan routes depending on where the signs need to be installed.

With an inventory on hand, there are nuts and bolts, washers and drills dedicated for an easy install. Crowe also does some work from home to make the installation process more efficient.

On average, it takes them about 6 minutes to install one sign, with approximately 500 signs installed to date. They’ve soaked in roughly 50 hours of dedication, specifically to install signs in their district from members of the brigade.

Across Nova Scotia, for the most part, it’s the responsibility of the property owner to ensure they receive a civic number, order a sign and install the sign properly.

Depending on where you reside, it’s the responsibility of the municipality, town or reservation to assign such numbers and to inform the public about having property signs displayed and up to regulations.

Many in communities across Nova Scotia are uneducated or unaware, struggling financially, don’t have the means to install signs, or they experience mobility issues, with all reasons resulting in a gap of signs being visible.

In 2023, the County of Colchester began issuing civic signs with each new building permit for all new buildings in the County. The charge for these civic address signs is built into the building permit fee. This by-law works great for new addresses going forward but does not address the current and ongoing missing civic sign problem.

With an increase in civic signs in Onslow Fire Brigades fire district, it’s starting to make a huge difference visually. Driving through the area, the blue and white reflective signs aren’t hard to miss, making properties very visible from the roadway.

Now that there are more signs displayed than before, leaving the hall when the tones drop makes Chief Muise feel a lot better when they are called out into the community.

“At least we know where we are going and hopefully there is a sign. Some areas we cover didn’t have any signs at all, now we have a better idea on where we are going” Stated Chief Muise.

Having more signs displayed makes a difference. If there are 15 houses on a street and 12 have a sign, it’s a process of elimination. The more signs make locating a property that much easier.

On average, Onslow has spent approximately $11,000 on the project, with each sign, stake and accessories costing approximately $22 each. It’s well worth the cost, when someone’s life could mean the difference with every minute going by.

The money used is strictly coming from funds received by the NS firefighters 50/50, not from taxpayers or operational costs. Giving back to all their communities and ensuring they can be located when and if an emergency happens. 

“Will just continue doing this.” Stated Chief Muise.

If any other fire departments are interested in wanting to learn more about their process or looking for some insight, they are open to sharing how it works and pushing the initiative into other areas in Nova Scotia.

It’s nice to see another area working to ensure those who don’t have a sign have one displayed properly and to the standard that first responders can locate it when seconds count.

Great work.

Adrian J.