Anderson County Opens New 911 Unified Emergency Communications Center

January 21, 2013

GILBERT, SC – January 21, 2013 – In August 2012, the Anderson CountyEmergency Services Division deployed Avtec’s Scout™ radio dispatchconsoles to control emergency communications across 780 square miles ofmountainous terrain in the upstate region of South Carolina. Its servicearea includes more than 300 square miles of shoreline on Lake Hartwelland supports the region’s nearly 200,000 residents. The call centeranswers more than 500,000 calls a year because of its proximity to theI-85 Corridor, the region’s terrain, and accidents on Lake Hartwell,which is a major tourist attraction in the area.

“We handle callsabout everything from heart attacks to gunshots, and car accidents tohazardous chemical spills. We also support requests for helicoptersupport and boat deployments on Lake Hartwell,” said Deputy Chief TaylorJones, who oversees the Anderson County Emergency Services Division.

AndersonCounty’s new call center is the result of a catastrophic lightningstrike in July 2011 that struck two radio towers and damaged 80 percentof the center’s equipment, causing nearly $3 million in damage. A grandopening for the center took place on October 24.

“The cost tothe taxpayers was zero,” said Rusty Burns, Anderson County’sadministrator. “We watched our pennies, we watched our dimes, and thefiscal impact is that we saved the taxpayers hundreds of thousands ofdollars while providing our community with the best 911 center in theSoutheast United States.”

The project was funded through theSouth Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund, and is expected to save thecounty $191,000 annually, said Burns.

“911 centers have towork when nothing else does, so our biggest concern was operationaldependability. We conducted research across the nation and chose Avtecconsoles because of their reliability.  With the new Scout Voice over IPdispatch system, there are no single points of failure,” said Jones.

TheAnderson County Emergency Services Division relies on 17 Scout consoleworkstations from Avtec to support radio communications for the 100emergency services employees who staff the call center each day. Anadditional four Scout workstations were installed in December of 2012,and will be used for training and in emergencies, such as storms, whenextra dispatchers are called in to take 911 calls.

TheAnderson County Sheriff’s Department uses P25-compliant (Project 25)Kenwood TK-5910 conventional radios that connect wirelessly to thePalmetto 800 (PAL 800) radio system, offering full-featured control fromthe Scout consoles. Built in the 1990s, PAL 800 is South Carolina’sstatewide emergency communications system and is based on a Motorola 800MHz trunked network that has expanded into one of the largest systemsin the nation. It provides interoperable communications for nearly 500state, county, and municipal agencies.

Captain MatthewLittleton manages the technical services department for the AndersonCounty Emergency Services Division. He has served as a member of the PAL800 advisory committee and was instrumental in defining the visionbehind integrating the various technologies in a safe, reliable, andcost-effective manner. “One of the big things we wanted was to have acall center that was built on a true IP architecture and open standards.This allowed us to do away with leased phone lines, and put in our ownprivate line, which will save our taxpayers thousands of dollars eachyear,” said Littleton.

“The Avtec Scout console provides ourdispatchers with an easy-to-use, completely customizable graphic userinterface, which results in fewer errors. This means that 911 calls getdispatched faster,” said Steve McDade, Anderson County 911 operationsdirector. “In emergency settings, you’re always racing against time, sothe faster we can dispatch, the better the outcome. Avtec is theheartbeat of our center.”
 

About the Anderson County 911 Unified Emergency Communications Division
TheAnderson County 911 Center operates 24 hours a day, seven days a weekand is responsible for answering all 911 and non-emergency calls for thecitizens of Anderson County, S.C. Call center personnel also dispatchpolice, sheriff, fire, highway patrol, and emergency medical servicesfor the cities and communities of Anderson, Belton, Honea Path, Iva,Williamston and all rural areas of Anderson County. To learn more, visit www.andersoncountyes.com/911 .
 
About Avtec, Inc.

Headquarteredin South Carolina, Avtec, Inc. provides Internet Protocol (IP) dispatchconsole solutions for the public safety, transportation, utility,business and government markets. For more than 30 years, customers havechosen Avtec’s award-winning technology for their mission-criticaldispatch centers. There are thousands of Scout Voice over Internetprotocol (VoIP) consoles installed worldwide. Visit www.avtecinc.com to learn more.