Winds tested 911 system
By MARY ANN GREIERLISBON - Columbiana County's enhanced 911 system worked as planned when last week's wind storm knocked out power to the East Palestine answering point.
Battery backup kept the location working for almost four hours before the computer died, then the system rerouted 911 calls to the other four Public Service Answering Points for another four hours until power was restored.
"The 911 system held up to the test and did an outstanding job," county 911 Director Robert Emmons said Tuesday.
Emmons met with three members of the new 911 Emergency Services Committee which will oversee the continued operation of the enhanced system and work on getting the wireless 911 system implemented. Commissioner Dan Bing, the chairman of the committee, was unable to attend.
The long-awaited enhanced 911 system had only been activated a few days when the remnants of Hurricane Ike swept through the county, causing hundreds of residents to call 911 for help, although some called just to report their power was out. They were advised to call the utility company unless there was a danger involved, such as wires down.
Emmons said he was very pleased with how the system worked. In East Palestine, he said the generator for the police and fire departments was having trouble keeping up with demand when the power went out, a problem he said East Palestine officials are working to fix by looking for grants to buy a new generator. The current generator is about 30 years old, he said. Costs for a new generator have been estimated at $25,000 for one to power everything in the two departments and $10,000 to power the necessities.
When asked if 911 would be asked to pay for the generator, Emmons noted that 911 hasn't paid for any generators for any of the other locations and no request had been made to pay for one for East Palestine.
In other 911 news, call takers received training Monday and Tuesday from MicroData representatives on the mapping system they're using with enhanced 911. He explained officials from the Vermont company were using the detailed map system from Vermont to explain all the features available. The map from Vermont shows everything from the location of churches to pay phones and everything in between.
"We hope to eventually get to that point," Emmons said, noting "the better we make the map, the better we are able to respond."
The map for Columbiana County shows the location of bodies of water, cross roads for addresses, a list of emergency providers for an area, a radius around an area, coordinates and an aerial view through aerial photographs. The photographs were taken a couple years ago. One feature is a measuring tool which can show the distance between a house and a pond so firefighters know how long the hose needs to be to use the water. Copies of maps can be faxed to emergency providers to aid in their response.
No date was set for the next committee meeting, with Emmons noting that Bing will be contacting people to represent the various entities, similar to the former Technical Advisory Committee. The next meeting won't occur until November or January, since not much business is required at this time.
The next project will require creation of a request for proposals for companies to gather the necessary data for wireless 911 mapping, the system which will enable call takers to pinpoint the locations of cell phone users who call 911. The county has been collecting a 32-cent monthly fee for cell phones, with $570,782 raised so far. The data collection for wireless 911 will cost an estimated $360,000.
Emmons said the 32-cent fee collection will end at the end of this year unless the state legislature takes action to have it continued. He said some counties may have to shut off their wireless systems if the fee ends because they won't be able to afford to pay the cost of 911 service. Unlike the system just implemented for landlines where the phone companies must provide the service at no cost to the county, cell phone companies can charge a monthly rate.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net
