Dawson City moves to number all buildings and homes

Using physical descriptions to identify the location of a businessor home may soon be a thing of the past in Dawson City.

Aproject to number all the buildings in the town is going ahead.

Currently, buildings in the community of about 1,300 people are described by theirsize and coloursor even by the names of the homeowners,rather than by thecivic address.

Wayne Potoroka, mayor of Dawson City, says it's necessary to number all the buildings so the town is ready when a territory-wide 9-1-1 emergency phone system is in place.

"This is notsomething we really have a whole pile of choice over," he says.

"We are going to get 911 and if that system is going to work in town we absolutely have to have a solid civic addressing bylaw and numbering protocol."

House numbers help emergency responders find people quickly and efficiently.

In the guidelines for posting address numbers on the Dawson City website, it says the most important thing is for house numbers to be visible from the road so emergency services can see it.

A public forum will be held at the end of the month to answer residents' concerns before council finalizes the plan.

More Yukoncommunities to number houses

Homes in rural areas around Whitehorse could be getting house numbers this spring.

Mount Lorne, which even had some unnamed streets, is one of the communities that has been talking about getting house numbers, along with Ibex Valley, Tagish, South Klondike and Marsh Lake.