Who would think that numbers could mean the difference between life and death? Yet for this University and so many others such is the case.
When students walk around campus they can easily see the new large numbers on each building. Nevertheless, the significance of these numbers is pondered by each student, until now.
Recently, the University Police Department and the Maintenance Department for the University have teamed up to put these numbers on each building of the University. “It is for safety reasons,” Jason Bone, Lieutenant of the University Police Department, said. Unbeknownst to many, Hunt County has required that each building have a number address with GPS tracking so that it will be easily found by police and ambulances during emergencies.
Bone, himself, mapped out the streets and assigned the street numbers two years ago, but the University continued with its tradition of calling out building names during emergency phone calls.
Jim Patton, the Project Manager of the Maintenance Department for the University, said, “The address system was something that was not really talked about before UPD and Hunt County got together because most people who are familiar with the campus know where the buildings are.”
However, in the last few years problems with locating students during these emergencies has greatly increased. Therefore, Bone and Hunt County got together to develop the address system. Immediately following that, Bone went to Patton’s office, where a construction plan was designed to put up the numbers. “I think our carpenters did it over a course of a month,” said Patton.
Besides safety the new addresses would be beneficial in helping new students find exact locations. “It will take time, but eventually you’ll find these addresses on map quest and Google earth,” said Bone.
Though it was not an easy task for Jason Bone and UPD nor for Jim Patton and the Maintenance Department, both along with Hunt County and the University agree that this was something that had long needed to be done and will be beneficial to all.