Caitlin Story, 14, knows the value of the address numbers displayed prominently on a house. From the passenger window of a car going down a Fairfax Station road in the dark, looking for the house number of her friend Jessie Harden's 14th birthday party wasn't an easy task, Caitlin found out.
"Our friend was having a party, and people kept going to the wrong house because they couldn't read the number," Caitlin said.
The faded numbers were on one side of the mailbox but the car that Caitlin was in was traveling the other way, so it didn't help. It wouldn't help a fire truck in an emergency either. Rules exist, but many don't follow them, leaving them subject to disciplinary action, according to Section 61, Chapter 102 of the Virginia Uniform Building Code, which is part of the Fairfax County code:
"Each principal building shall bear the number assigned to the frontage on which the front entrance is located," the documentation states.
Dan Schmidt, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue spokesperson, said the house numbers are important when answering a fire call as well as emergency medical technician call.
"We need to be able to see house numbers from the road," Schmidt said.
THE BASIS for the state code, and then the county code is the International Fire Code, which is filed in the Office of the Fire Marshal, in the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue department. As part of the general requirements of the International Fire Code, section F, 303.3, reads "Buildings shall have approved address numbers placed in a position to be plainly legible and visible from the street or road fronting the property. These numbers shall contrast with their background. Numbers shall be a minimum of 4 inches (102 mm) high with a minimum stroke width of 0.5 inch (12.8 mm)." The wording in the county code is similar.
According to the rule, it will be enforced by the director of the Department of Environmental Management but Fairfax County no longer has no such department, according to Amy Carlini, a county spokesperson. Now it falls under the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, which refers any enforcement case to the Department of Planning and Zoning, which is supposed to send a letter first and then respond.
"If they don't comply in 30 days, it gets sent to DPWES," Carlini said. "Someone has to report it in order for it to come to the county." No one could remember a case in which that happened though. In a case in which someone chose not to comply, action could be taken "including obtaining criminal warrants, applying to courts of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief, or any other appropriate action," the county code states.
Although the fire department doesn't have the time to look for violators, they will tell people the rule when responding to calls.
"If we see a violation where we can't see the addresses, we tell people," Schmidt said. "It can cost time."
Individual communities may have their own standards within the county code. Burke Centre, for instance, requires "house numbers that are Arabic numerals, of uniform size between 2 inches and 6 inches. The numbers need to be a solid color against a contrasting background with the dwelling and must meet the standards," the community's covenant rules state. Burke Centre will allow a slight variance with a special application and approval.
Although the county and international code require the numbers to be on the actual building and fail to mention mailboxes, the Burke Centre rules allow numbers to be on the mailboxes as well.