Firefighter Alfred F. Guzzi Jr from Long Branch (NJ) Truck 4 sent in this photo of something worth thinking about. When looking at this structure its easy to see that it is intended to be a 4 family dwelling. However it is important to use all available clues to help determine how many people may occupy the structure. Given the amount of dishes present on the porch roof, it could possibly be a sign of more than one family occupying a unit. Other clues were taken into consideration when making this determination, like the make-up (lower income) of the neighborhood, and the extremely packed parking lot. None of these signs are absolute, but they are something else to keep in mind when sizing-up the structure.
16 thoughts on “Do the Dishes?”
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I have seen confirmed single-family homes with 4 dishes. Sometimes additional dishes will be purchased to prevent areas of blackout.
I have 3 dishes on my home because you can only have 4 tv’s hooked up to one so that could also be a reason
No matter how many dishes you have, it’s still a good visual clue to the posibilities you may face when performing your size up. Another good outside indicator of possible inhabitants are window air conditioners in upstairs/finished above garage areas in single family dwellings. These can be used as additional living areas, not just attic storage. Always look for signs of occupancy in unexpected places.
During a class that I took in the last year, this tip was given to us. The instructor got it from a career fire department in Cumberland Co, NJ. The population is largely immigrant hispanic. The local cable TV vendor doesn’t carry a large selection of Spanish TV, but the satellite provider does. Almost without fail, the number of dishes indicates the number of families.
Don’t forget some of the other telltale signs such as the number of mailboxes, gas meters, and even electrical feeds going into or on the structure. They’re all very basic, but a good starting point as a bare minimum. We have some of the same situations with these dishes however, some of our nieghborhoods have ordinances where they must be in the rear of the structure and not mounted on it. They must be attached to a deck rail or post, etc, which essentially blocks it from view from the streetside upon arrival. Without doing a full walk around of the structure they might not be noticed early on in the operation.
Counting mailboxes is always a good part of your size-up, but the number of boxes may not tell the whole story. Recently on Building Inspection we came across an MD with 6 mailboxes inside the entrance door,(2 per floor). When I asked my Proby to size-up the building he said he would expect to find up to 6 families, one per apartment based on the number of boxes.
What he didn’t notice was that each box had multiple names written on the wall directly above. Of course, two last names could just be a couple, etc., but when you see 3 or 4 names for each box, something is definitely not as it appears. In this case the building turned out to be an Single Room Occupancy. There were 18 illegal single room apartments in a building designed to have 6 apartments.
Although I can’t see what they say in the picture, notice that there are different size notes on most of the mailboxes. A closer examination might show multiple names for some of the boxes. You won’t notice this during your size-up at 2am, but it’s somrthing to look for during inspections, drills, EMS runs, etc.
All I can say is, good thing they don’t have cable!
:O
IMO as long as you realise it is a multi family building the exact number doesn’t really matter. One family may have 5 kids, who knows?
And Jay…..say what?
“I have 3 dishes on my home because you can only have 4 tv’s hooked up to one so that could also be a reason.”
Fits
In a word dont over look the basement for illegal renter or an extra unpermitted bed room.
Take I ride on the Chicago subway system, every other house you see looks just like this.
I like all of the extra wiring coming from the left hand a.c. unit as well as the ones running up and onto the roof!
Looks like alot of houses in Trenton NJ
It could be neighbors steeling the service too. im not sure how it works but i have heard if you can obtain the right equipment you can steel satilite tv if its close to another dish.
Jay
You have 3 dishes because you can only hook up 4 per? You can run multiple on either providers systems.
Charles
Not even. The signal is encrypted, thus why you need a box.
Multiple dishes could mean many things. Some satellites are further spaced and need to have extras dishes to pull down certain programming. One dish could essentially run an entire apartment building.
This could be decent, but meters would give you a better idea.
I’m not sure why there is so much credit given to multiple electric meters. Utility Companies will not run multiple meters to a single family dwelling. Now if your local building officials issue permits to convert a SFD into a MFD, that’s a different story.
The new upgrades that Comcast and other satellite providers are doing for their HD channels require an additional dish. The one they added to my house is darker grey and slightly larger, just like the ones in the photo.
As an aside, the installer told me for a penny more I could upgrade to a different package that had about 20 more HD channels than I was currently getting. WTF! Why hadn’t Comcast told me that?
why is my satilite not working darn