NATCHEZ &045;&045; Finding a house in an emergency is a critical matter and houses that are not properly numbered can cost valuable seconds and even minutes for emergency responders.

That is why Erle Drane, commander of the Post 4 American Legion decided numbering all houses in the county would be a good project to spend the Legion’s $2,000 Wal-Mart Community Service Grant.

As a part of homeland security, the Adams County Civil Defense office is working to get houses and businesses in the county numbered so emergency responders can find the buildings. The American Legion is just giving a bit of a helping hand.

&uot;What do first responders need?&uot; Drane said and answered &045;&045; an easy way to find people.

&uot;It’s probably the most simplest thing but the volunteer fire departments, fire departments and ambulance companies have a hard time finding someone.&uot;

Emergency responders &045;&045; ambulance companies and the fire department &045;&045; have met with Civil Defense and Drane in two meeting already.

It is the First Responders Enhancement Project and the group hopes to get volunteers, such as 4-H students, to help canvass neighborhoods in the county. The project will start smaller and gradually get larger, covering the entire county, Drane said.

The volunteers will go to all houses and offer to put up their street address, if the house does not already have the numbering. Drane said the kind of numbering will depend on the place &045;&045; paint for some, sticker numbers for others and the kind to be tacked on with small nails.

Drane said the $2,000 grant will be used to buy supplies and pay for numbering in poverty areas. Other residents will be asked to pay for the materials used in providing the service, he said.

They want to put the numbers up according to regulations, Drane said, and in visible and conspicuous places.

Natchez Fire Department Commander Oliver Stewart said many times the department does have trouble locating a place. If numbers and signs were larger, he said, they people in emergency situations would be easier to find.

&uot;We do have problems (with house numbers),&uot; Stewart said.

&uot;Some of them are so small you can’t really see them.&uot;

Drane said this is a project for 2004 &045;&045; &uot;every address, every home and every building,&uot; he said.

&uot;This has life saving potential,&uot; Drane said. &uot;It wouldn’t take but just a few minutes for everybody (individually) in the county to have it done.

&uot;It’s common sense, this is something even before terrorism that was needed.

&uot;People will realize this is not giving up any privacy but enhancing the possibility that if there is an emergency&uot; people can get to them,&uot; Drane said.