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Signs Help Emergency Responders Find People On Coast

Oregon State Parks

Numbered signs along the Oregon coast help visitors identify their location in an emergency.  The large, bright, yellow signs are visible from the beach, air and offshore.

Tourists on the coast sometimes find it hard to describe exactly where they are, especially while walking on the beach. Captain Jim Kusz with North Lincoln Fire and Rescue says the project has been underway for some time. He says the signs were first installed along the central coast.

Kusz: "The system, so far, has been very, very useful. We've used it a couple of times that we've had confusion. For instance, in our district, we have streets that run north and south and they're numbered streets. Well, if someone says they're at 51st street, well, that doesn't really help us unless they know if they're at south 51st or north 51st and that can be as much as a 6 mile difference."

Emergency responders have location information corresponding with each numbered sign.
The nearly 200 signs stretch for more than 360 miles from Fort Stevens State Park in the north to Crissey Field State Park at the California State line.
 

Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.
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