Rural residents to get 911 street addresses

The Panhandle Regional 911 Network will be notifying rural Donley County residents of their 911 or physical address this week.

City type addresses consisting of street names and numbers will be assigned to homes and businesses in rural areas. Citizens living within an incorporated area will not be affected.

The project is a combined effort of the Donley County Commissioners’ Court, the Donley County Sheriff’s Department, and the Regional 911 Network of the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC) in order to provide the best 911 services to local citizens.

Rural addressing will provide emergency service personnel such as fire departments, ambulance services, and law enforcement with a more efficient way of locating 911 callers. Emergency personnel will no longer have to depend on “local knowledge” to find a person needing help. For example, when responding to a call outside of town, an address like “6725 County Road E” can be much more useful to a new ambulance driver than “two miles south of the old Smith place.”

The new physical addresses should not be confused with a mailing address. At some date in the future, the US Postal Service will be converting the physical address into mailing addresses to replace the HC and RR addresses. This will help with the automated processing and sorting of mail, the post office says.

A physical address as other benefits beyond 911, according to the PRPC. Utilities and package delivery companies are beginning to require a physical address to start a new account or service an existing one. Similarly, insurance companies often require such information about the property for which they are providing coverage.

Rural residents who do not receive a letter by Monday, December 4, are encouraged to call the Panhandle Regional 911 Network in Amarillo at 372-3881 or 1-800-687-7911.