Scott Trudeau’s 7-year-old daughter Emily was killed in an accident on the family farm in nearby Hastings County in 2014, when she fell out of a tractor.
“You hear about accidents, farm accidents, you hear about them occasionally and you take for granted that it won’t happen to you. But when something actually does happen, you really sit back and realize how important and how neglected some safety things are,” said Scott Trudeau.
They called 911 but the ambulance couldn’t find the property, so that’s why Trudeau started the Emily Project, in her name.
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“It’s a marker, and if somebody was working here and they needed help, they would very easily be able to get it. They would obviously know that number and say I am at this area,” said Trudeau.
After three years, the first farm 911 sign was installed in Northumberland County on Tuesday, on the farm of Allan Carruthers, who is a volunteer firefighter.
“I filled my form out around the middle of April and the process was pretty well complete within a couple of weeks,” said Carruthers.
The sign has officially been GIS located, meaning if you punch its address into your GPS, it will directly map it for you.
“If you’re driving down this road and you have a car accident and there are no other driveways around, you’ll say, ‘Oh, there is a yellow and black sign,’ and police, fire, and ambulance can respond to that,” said Carruthers.
In Northumberland County, the sign costs $50, but residents only pay $25. The county covers the rest. People who would like to order a sign can visit farm911.ca.
“It’s unfortunate that it takes something like that to make something like this happen, but if I can prevent someone from not having to feel the way I felt that day, by being able to get there quicker, in Emily’s name, there be wouldn’t be any bigger honour really,” said Trudeau.
Trudeau and Carruthers hope that these signs are installed throughout all municipalities so that farmers can get the help that they need and first responders can quickly do their job.