Mike Shook, Wood County’s emergency dispatcher, appeared before the county commission Thursday to give an update on the new emergency dispatch center. The center is expected to be up and running “soon,” while officials are still waiting on some final tests to make sure everything is working properly. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG – Wood County’s new 911 center will soon come online, the emergency services director told county commissioners Thursday.
Mike Shook, Wood County 911 chief, appeared before the commission to give an update on the 17,000-square-foot facility in the former Suddenlink building near the intersection of Interstate 77 and U.S. 50.
“We are looking forward to getting involved,” said Commission President Blair Couch.
In recent years, the building has undergone renovations and other work to transform it into the central office that will handle emergency calls from Wood and Wirt counties. Officials had hoped to have the new center up and running early this month, but several computer problems prevented that from happening, including issues related to the location from which calls were made.
Shook said teams from Intrado, the company that developed the systems the dispatchers will use, “worked day and night”, to get everything up and running together with representatives from Frontier Communications.
“(Wednesday) morning we checked the emergency calls and everything went as it should have,” Said Shook.
Now Intrado has to send a technician to “flip the switch”, and some testing is still needed to make sure everything is working properly, he said.
“Then we are ready to take action,” Said Shook.
Commissioner Jimmy Colombo asked about the collaboration with Intrado. Shook said it has been great as they have done a number of upgrades to their systems while Frontier was doing some work.
“They were more than cooperative,” he said.
Shook said they hope to have a timeline in the next few days for when technicians can finish their work. He believes it could be next week or soon after, depending on technician availability.
The dispatchers have been trained in how to use the new systems, but much remains the same.
The new center includes several offices, a training area, the emergency call center, dispatch room, server room, storage area and more. The facility will house the county’s voting machines, as well as evidence that the Wood County District Attorney’s Office is required to retain, other records and more. The building will also provide a place for local amateur radio operators to work in case they need to be deployed to respond to emergency calls.
The dispatch room will have eight computerized dispatch stations, compared to the six used at the existing facility at Core Road, with the possibility of installing five more in the future if required.
At the state level, there are discussions about the possibility of consolidating certain areas into regional 911 centers, officials said, adding that many of the surrounding counties could be alerted from that center if the state goes that route.
“It is a really beautiful building that will continue to bring us a lot of profit in the future,” Said Couch.
In other business, county officials said they expect the new Wood County Resiliency Center to be completed by Sept. 15. Officials plan to offer an open house and tours at some point.
