Tentative date set for start of 911 in Columbiana

There were 29 errors in the master list of streets.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — Columbiana County officials say enhanced 911 phone service could begin in July or August, if the latest problems can be fixed.

Robert Emmons, the project’s director, said Wednesday that he wants to focus on getting the project working as soon as possible.

Estimates of the starting date have been made in the past but have come and gone because of various problems. About $1.2 million has been spent on the county’s 911 effort so far.

Last year, county fire departments were asked to help determine the master street address guide. The street guide determines the boundaries of subdivisions that will be used to route emergency calls to one of five locations: the county sheriff’s office or the Salem, Columbiana, East Palestine or East Liverpool police departments.

“Enhanced” means the dispatcher would see on a computer the address from which the call was made.

AT&T Inc. received the material in January. Emmons said its check of the street guide discovered about 29 errors.

That’s very low, considering the number of roads in the large, rural county, Emmons said.

The boundaries are to be corrected by early June.

The county has about 35,000 landlines. AT&T’s preliminary test of its telephone database showed it is about 90 percent accurate. The list must be more than 99 percent correct before it is loaded into the system, according to Emmons.

Once the initial phone list is loaded, information, such as a new number, would be updated daily.

Emmons said he hoped many of the corrections on the list of phone numbers are simple. The common abbreviation for “avenue” is “ave,” but Emmons said AT&T uses “av.”

“They’ve been doing that way for 20 years,” Emmons said.

He said that it may take months to correct all the errors on the phone list.

The county’s Emergency Operations Center in Lisbon will house equipment for the system. Emmons said network materials that will connect the five centers and the EOC will be ordered.

The county awarded the contract for the equipment to Verizon. Emmons said equipment has been installed and is awaiting the network connections.

Salem moved into its new center earlier this month. The last department, East Palestine, is expected to move in early June.

To speed completion of the system, Emmons said he would simplify training by splitting up some training classes.

Once the enhanced 911 service is in place, the county plans to create a system that will pinpoint emergency calls from cell phones.

wilkinson@vindy.com