Similar street names can lead to confusing situations for police and fire emergencies.

The DeKalb City Council changed the name of the newly-developed Grand Avenue to St. Andrew’s Drive at the request of the DeKalb fire department.

Grand Avenue shared a similar name with Grand Drive in DeKalb, which is why the name needed to be changed.

Grand Avenue and Grand Drive were submitted as new street names at the same time, which is why they both slipped in with the same name, said Lance Sandy, deputy director of DeKalb’s information and technology division .

DeKalb Fire Chief Lanny Russell stressed the importance of distinguishing street names from each other.

“It’s pretty confusing waking up in the middle of the night to answer a call,” he said. “You can wind up on the wrong side of town.”

Several streets in DeKalb have similar or identical names.

Three of the most confusing street names are Holmes Place, Hulmes Drive and Home Drive, DeKalb Police Lt. Jim Kayes said. In addition, streets with similar sounding names are often located in odd parts of the city.

Gurler Road is outside the city limits but inside DeKalb County, while Gurler Street is inside the city, so these streets are less likely to be confused with each other, Kayes said.

Veteran police officers’ familiarity with the city helps cut down on street name confusion, he said.

“If you’ve worked long enough, you can look at pictures of houses for sale in the newspaper and know just where they’re located,” Kayes said.

The DeKalb police employ computer technologies to assist officers in finding addresses.

Both fire fighters and police officers are dispatched from the police station, Kayes said. When a call comes into the police department, the address of the call shows up on a computer screen.

In addition to the address, the computer’s Global Information System (GIS) can display an aerial satellite photograph of the house, he said.

Police and fire officials can also access detailed maps, names and phone numbers of businesses and their owners, Sandy said.