Farm 911: Emily Project signs arrive in the County

Members of council, Emily Project committee members, landowners, and first responders marked the installation of the first Farm 911 sign in Prince Edward County Wednesday, Nov. 6.

For Ruth MacStephen, installing the new Farm 911 civic address sign at the entrance to her field on County Road 5 just made sense.

“Without a civic number on my land, the time lost re-directing first responders could result in more serious injuries, or worse. With the Farm 911 number, the first responders can now go directly to the farm land,” she says. “I fully agree and endorse this initiative for Prince Edward County.”

Farm 911: The Emily Project is named for seven-year-old Hastings County resident Emily Trudeau, who died after she fell from, and was struck by a moving tractor on her parent’s beef farm near Tweed in 2014.

First responders could not immediately find the scene of the accident as not all rural property entrances have signage.

Since, Emily’s family helped launch the signage project to encourage agricultural landowners to have a civic address at the entrance to their vacant farm field to assist first responders in the event of an emergency or accident.

MacStephen applied for a sign soon after council approved the project for Prince Edward County in September 2019. She has since sold the land, but the new owners will continue to benefit from having a sign at 280 County Road 5.

Given that Prince Edward County is a geographically vast, rural farming community, the Farm 911: The Emily Project is a vital safety initiative, said Mayor Steve Ferguson.

“We hope that none of our farmers ever experience an accident while working out in their fields,” said Ferguson. “If they do, however, every second counts. These signs will help speed up the emergency response and the delivery of life-saving care. I commend Ruth and others who have taken the initiative to install the signs, and I encourage all landowners to participate in the program.”

All applicants requesting a Farm 911 sign must submit an application to Development Services. Applications must include a $55 non-refundable fee for administrative and material costs. The municipality also asks for a sketch or site plan of the property, identifying the existing access point location(s) with distance to, and in context with, property line(s).

The application form along with the policy/procedures can be downloaded here from the County website. http://www.thecounty.ca/media/pe-county/documents/department/engineering/Farm-911-Application.pdf

For more information, on The Emily Project, visit www.farm911.ca