Address Posting

Locating you quickly during an EMERGENCY is our goal. When a Dinwiddie County E-911 Telecommunicator dispatches any emergency service unit, whether it is Fire, EMS (Emergency Medical Services), or Law Enforcement to your residence in your time of need, having your address posted and clearly, visible allows them to find you quickly. Even with GPS and GIS mapping, responders still depend on address postings to insure they are in the correct place.

The standards for posting your address in Dinwiddie County are laid out in the Code of Dinwiddie County Chapter 17.5, Article II, Section 17.5-33. In general, the numbers shall be at least 3 inches in height and should be reflective. They should be displayed conspicuously at the main entrance door and be visible from the road. If the building is more than 150 feet from the road or when the entrance is not visible from the road, the number shall be placed at the driveway entrance or other suitable location that is discernible from the roadway. Mailboxes can be used if the number clearly identifies the structure to which it is assigned. (Caution: If the mailbox is in a group of mailboxes, is not located directly in front of your home or directly adjacent to your drive then other means of address posting should be used) If a mailbox is used please make sure the numbers are displayed on both sides of the mailbox or post. Emergency responders often don’t all come from the same direction.

Some of the main issues encountered by responders include:

  • Numbers that are too small to read from the vehicle
  • Numbers that are not reflective and visible at night
  • Driveways that are shared by multiple homes may have addresses posted at the main roadway but not at each home on the drive or at splits in the driveway. (If a large fire truck or ambulance travels down a narrow drive to the wrong home it can take many precious minutes to turn the vehicle around to get back out to the correct address)
  • Mailboxes that are not located at the end of the drive and are not discernible as to which home they belong to.
  • Clustered mailboxes with no additional posting for the homes.
  • Numbers covered by vegetation or debris
  • Numbers on the home cannot be seen from the roadway.

A good test for every citizen to perform is to look at your address posting from this perspective. If someone was looking for your home at 3:00 a.m. , in the rain, and had never been there before; could they follow your address posting to your door???

When it comes to address posting, the more you can do the easier it will be for us to find you.

For more information on addressing see the complete County Code Section on Street Names and House Numbers, Chapter 17.5, Article II.