The Lassen County Fire Safe Council (LCFSC) is interested in assisting you in protecting you and your family. With this in mind, we would like to introduce you to our new house number sign project. After several months of development we found that there are multiple concerns with regard to how people identiry their home’s location. In an effort on their part to add “individuality” to their home environment they have inadvertently created a more concerning result. Some of these individual house number designs are made of materials which do not lend themselves to providing good visibility should a person or emergency responder come looking for their destination. In some cases some have chosen to not number their home at all which could lead to devastating circumstances.

Our “Can They Find You” house number sign project was developed after multiple meetings with your local volunteer fire departments, emergency service agencies, Lassen County Fire Chief’s Association, U.S. Forest Service, BLM, CalFire prevention offices and concerned citizens regarding the ability of our local emergency service agencies to find homes when people call for their services.

Many Lassen County homes have house numbers already in place but there are countless others that do not. In order for emergency service personnel to find you they must have a way of distinguishing between homes. California Public Safety Code 4291 requires home identification to be indicated by using a minimum 3″ size number and Lassen County Building Ordinance requires a minimum 4″ size number placed on a contrasting background. With this in mind, the Lassen County Fire Safe Council suggested the above mentioned fire and emergency service providers adopt the reflective blue background with 4″ white reflective numbers. This contrasting sign design provides for maximum visibility in all situations but does not conflict with any other typical street name sign colors.

With County maintained streets the street name signs are printed on both sides with highly reflective “engineer grade” 3M sign material for both the green background and white letters and the designated colors for signs indicating private streets which are also printed on both sides with highly reflective “engineer grade” 3M sign material for both the white background and black letters. Therefore the choice of the blue background with white numbers was chosen and is now recommended for use county wide. The material for these signs would also be the highly reflective engineers grade material which allows for excellent night visibility under all conditions whether there is fog or smoke from a wildfire present. Some of you may have already noticed the house number signs placed in the Milford area. Our sign project is similar but with the larger sized numerals to allow for better visibility for the fire fighters and emergency responders.

Horizontal House Sign

The Lassen County Fire Safe Council, Inc. house numbering sign project actually recommends the use of several signs in order to properly designate your home. With so many Lassen County homes located on private roads and with many of these private roads not even road name signs are posted, it is extremely likely that you will never be found should you call for emergency services. Add to this a home without a properly posted house number you are virtually guaranteeing the emergency service will not be able to locate you.

PROPERLY LOCATING THE HOUSE NUMBER SIGNS

Example of House Sign

The recommended procedure in properly signing your home location is to first place the name of your street in a visible location removing enough of the surround vegetation, tree branches, etc. so the sign can be seen a minimum distance of 300 to 500 feet. If your street is connected to a major highway or thoroughfare the sight distance minimum should increase according to the approaching speed.Under the street name sign you would place your house number sign. This sign must be printed on both sides so it can be seen from both directions and printed in a horizontal orientation (see example). If there is more then one home along the road there would be additional signs for each home with each sign “stacked” one below the other. The first home closest to the road intersection would place their house number sign on top and the next home up the road would place their house number below that one and so on until all homes on the road have their house numbers listed. The next step for proper home signage would be to install an additional house number sign at the entrance to your driveway. This sign shall also be printed on both sides so the sign could be read from either direction approaching your driveway. The number orientation would be in a vertical alignment (see example).

MOUNTING THE HOUSE NUMBER SIGNS

There are several possibilities in mounting this sign onto a post. One way of mounting the vertical orientated sign would be to make a saw cut approximately ¼ deep into the center of the upper portion of a 4″ x 4″ pressure treated post the length of the sign so you can slide the sign into the saw cut. After sliding the sign into the saw cut it is recommended that you also secure the sign to the post using a minimum of 4 small 1″ x 1″ L shaped brackets spaced evenly apart up the length of the sign and securing to the post using 1½ inch long wood screws then using 4, 1″ long 3/8 ” galvanized nuts and bolts with lock washers. Another example of mounting the sign is shown in the picture above. To secure the post in the ground dig a small diameter hole double the width of the post down 24″ into the ground. Use scrap 2″ x 4″s to hold the post “plumb” them pour in concrete mix into the hole surrounding the post and leave for 24 hours to cure. Once post is solid you can remove the 2 x 4 bracing, paint the post if you wish and them install the sign. After completing all the recommended steps you can then rest knowing that you and your family will be able to enjoy peace of mind in knowing that if you should ever need to call for emergency assistance, that those responding WILL be able to locate you quickly when minutes and even seconds can make the difference.

WHERE CAN I GET THESE SIGNS?

The signs are made to order. They can be obtained locally through LASCO in Susanville. However there may be other local businesses that can help you with the signs as well. Just provide them with the specifications (below). Also, there are many sign businesses you can find on the internet as well. When ordering your house number signs you need to relay the following information to your vendor:

• Horizontal Signs
  Blank sign material and size – 3/16″ Aluminum blank material.
  Length – 24″ Height – 6″
  Background Material – 3M 3200 Engineering Grade Scotchlite Reflective Sign Vinyl
  Number material – 3M 3200 Engineering Grade Scotchlite Reflective Sign Vinyl
  Number height = 4 inches
• Vertical Signs
  Blank sign material and size – 1/8″ Aluminum blank material.
  Length – 30″ Height – 6″
  Background Material – 3M 3200 Engineering Grade Scotchlite Reflective Sign Vinyl
  Number material – 3M 3200 Engineering Grade Scotchlite Reflective Sign Vinyl
  Number height = 4 inches