The initiative helps first responders locate rural sites
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The Town of Tecumseh has become the latest Ontario community to launch a farm safety initiative.
On July 12, the Town announced it launched Farm 911, also known as the Emily Project.
This initiative, which launched in 2017, assigns civic addresses to rural properties, allowing first responders to identify the site easily in the case of an emergency.
A civic address includes three parts: a civic number, a full street name and the municipality, according to multiple County websites.
Tecumseh is the first community within Windsor Essex to launch Farm 911.
“We are excited to be leading the charge on this in Windsor Essex. It is a great initiative to keep our residents safe, especially those in the agricultural sector,” Mayor Gary McNamara said in a statement. “The idea for this project was raised by one of our citizens and the Emily Project has the full support of Council.
Community members brought project involvement up to Council in February.
Time is of the essence for first responders when trying to access a scene, Josette Eugeni, a consultant, wrote on behalf of local landowner and builder Jeff Sylvestre.
“Time saving measures are an important aspect of emergency preparedness and ultimately, saving lives,” she said. “Assigning the address to correlate with the access bridge will efficiently identify where emergency responders need to enter the farm. Many farms front multiple roadways with large ditches which prohibit or frustrate access at an alternate location.”
The Emily in the project’s name is Emily Trudeau.
Emily Trudeau (Farm911 photo)
In 2014, the seven-year-old girl from Hastings passed away after she fell from and was struck by a tractor on her family’s beef farm.
First responders couldn’t locate the farm because there wasn’t a 911 sign at the entrance. Emily’s mother, Angela, had to flag them down.
Since Farm 911 launched in August 2017, more than 75 Ontario communities have signed on to participate.