Why did 9-1-1 have to change my address?

Typically, the reason for a municipal change to your address means there is some type of public safety issue with the street you live on.  The municipalities (a City, Boro or Township) are ultimately responsible for the naming and numbering of streets within their jurisdiction.  The 9-1-1 center's role is to identify what is deemed a public safety issue and report it to the municipalities for correction.  Ultimately, the final decision lies with the municipalities for all changes regarding naming and numbering street addresses.

Some issues that can be observed are:

  • The numbering on the street is not in sequence.  (Example: 1, 3, 5, 234, 9, 23, 43, 15 is observed on one side of a road; it should be 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15)
  • The name of the road either duplicates within your municipality or in a surrounding municipality, which can cause confusion.  (An example is having multiple Main Street, Walnut Street, Division Street names in any given area, like the "Pittston Area".)
  • A combination of street name and numbering.  This is caused when you have 2 municipalities with identical numbers and names, which can lead to confusion for residents and responders.  (An example would be if Hazleton City and West Hazleton Boro both have an East Shoemaker Street, with the same numbers from 1-100.  If a resident calls and does not know which municipality they are in, it can cause a delay because they are only familiar with "Hazleton" as the address.)

Many addresses have been around for decades and in the past, were given out by the post office and other municipal officials.  For delivery of mail, this did not pose such a problem because local mail carriers knew their mail routes.  The 9-1-1 Data Department assists municipalities with identifying and correcting possible public safety issues within Luzerne County.

Show All Answers

1. Why do I need an E-911 address?
2. What is an E-911 address?
3. Why did 9-1-1 have to change my address?
4. What is the difference between a mailing address and a physical address?