HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — With hurricane season around the corner, many local agencies are preparing now.

And as part of that preparation, there’s a small team with a big job to do before and after a storm: making road signs.

The printer is constantly running at Hillsborough County’s sign shop, where Gino Marzono is always hard at work making street signs.

“We do all the street markers," he said. "We do stop signs. Speed limits. We make an average in this shop 1,000 signs a month."

Working on the printing, designing, cutting and installation, Marzono said he has made thousands of signs for nearly 20 years, 

“Street markers and stop signs are what we make the most," he said. "Speed limits would probably be up there also."

In a county as big as Hillsborough, Marzono said they’re constantly making road signs due to wear and tear, crashes and, of course, weather.

That’s especially the case during storm season.

Marzono said the sign makers already have 5,000 stop signs ready to go for this year.

“I’d say it’s very important," he said. "Because if there’s no stop signs out there, there will be a lot of accidents."

Getting stop signs back up after a storm is crucial to road safety. Once winds fall to 35 mph, crews get on the road to assess damage and replace signs, if needed. 

After Hurricane Ian, Marzono said crews filled nearly 2,000 work orders right after the storm.

Fellow sign tech Chris DeMay has been on the receiving end of some of those calls to replace a sign quickly.  

“I’ve seen stop signs ripped in half,” DeMay said.

That’s why he’s always prepared to go, whether it’s storm season or not.

“We always have our emergency signs in stock on our truck," DeMay said. "Because we get called out numerous times a day. Sometimes at night."

It’s demanding work, but the team knows they’re helping their neighbors stay safe.

“I like it,” Marzano said. “You feel like you’re doing something important, because you’re constantly doing things to improve the community.”