Next time you are about to pull into your driveway, take a moment and look for your house number. Are you easily able to locate it? If it takes you more than a few seconds, it may take an emergency response crew even longer to find. In an emergency, seconds count.

To help police, firefighters, and paramedics quickly respond, Massachusetts passed a law requiring residents to clearly post their house numbers. Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 148, Section 59 states: “Every building… shall have affixed thereto a number representing the address of such building… shall be visible from the nearest street or road…”

Local police stand by this law: “I am a police officer in a small but very busy community in New England… On too many occasions, police, fire, and rescue personnel have wasted precious time trying to find the exact location of an emergency because the homes and businesses in the area were poorly marked- or not marked at all. This could mean the difference between life or death,” (The Boston Herald).

This summer, American Alarm is on a mission to help you comply with the law and keep safe. Our Sign Program this year is sending team members to install Emergency Response Locator signs at currently monitored residential homes in Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. These signs display your house number so that emergency crews can easily see it from the road. They are bright yellow with reflective numbers so  even at night they can’t be missed.

Additionally, these signs deter potential thieves. Criminals are much less likely to try and break into a home they know is armed with an alarm system.

All of our currently monitored customers are entitled to a sign as part of the American Alarm loss prevention program. Please contact Rekha Patel at rpatel@americanalarm.com if you would like to be added or removed from this program this summer.

If you are not a currently monitored customer and would like to learn about this as well as our other residential programs please click here.