ROCKPORT — Fire Chief Jason Peasley was knocking on doors last week, going from house to house, asking residents to get their property properly marked with street address numbers. While it was a daunting task — there are hundreds of homes in Rockport — he had a good time meeting people he’d never crossed paths with before.

The job, however, is serious business for Peasley, who is responsible for providing an efficient and timely response to any emergency. There have been recent situations when emergency responders were not able to get to homes in an appropriate time frame, because addresses were not adequately marked.

“Rockport’s Land Use 911 Ordinance requires that all homeowners and business owners address their homes or business according to our local ordinance so that our emergency crews can locate you in case of an emergency,” wrote Peasley, in a letter he delivered to each property that failed to comply.

The rules are simple: Display the house or property number prominently on or near the front door, visible from the street. Numbers shall be of colors that contrast with the background color, the ordinance says.

The height of each number should be four inches and made of reflective material, and placed four feet off of the ground.

If a house or building is more than 50 feet from the road, or not visible from the road, place the numbers at the beginning of the driveway.

Peasley and the Rockport Assessor, Kerry Leichtman, are urging property owners to comply within 30 days, or risk getting fined by the state. Fines run up to $100 a day until compliance.

As of the end of last week, Peasley had covered a portion of Rockport that included Main Street, Park Street, Pascal Avenue, Union and Camden streets. Of those alone, he cited 64 buildings that did not comply with the ordinance, including that of this reporter.

Adequately marked buildings is a high priority with firefighters and ambulance crews across the country, especially in rural areas, and/or growing regions.

Emergency responders need proper addresses in the system so that dispatchers can tell them exactly where to go. But if the homes are not marked, it becomes a guessing game, and precious time is lost.

Peasley is hoping Rockport residents heed his plea, and said Rankin’s Hardware, on Union Street in Camden, “just got a shipment of properly sized numbers for the addresses.”

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657