Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

911 To Go Online In November

November will bring more to Clark County than Thanksgiving and football this year.

According to Charles Bullard, Clark County's 911 coordinator, the new emergency telephone system should be on line as well.

This was the message he presented to members of the Gurdon Rotary Club at its regular meeting Thursday, July 25.

However, Bullard stressed the county's 911 system will not be like the television series "Rescue 911." He said no medical advice will be given by 911 operators over the phones.

Being an old military man, Bullard broke down the work on getting 911 up and running into a series of phases, four to be exact.

Phase I consisted of getting the county maps together, checking for duplications in names and removing them.

From this point, Bullard started working on the county's street and road names. It was decided to name the roads instead of numbering them, though numbering would have been much easier and faster.

This resulted in names sounding alike being changed or eliminated entirely so as not to confuse the emergency personnel.

Phase II also dealt with the county's roads, but in a different manner. Under phase II, the roads were measured for addressing purposes.

Bullard said if a house couldn't be seen from one road, the road it was on was named, even if it were little more than an extended driveway.

He said when the project was began there were 433 known roads in Clark County. However, when he finished, the county now has more than 700 roads totalling more than 875 square miles.

However, Bullard went an extra mile by identifying Potlatch and International Paper Co. logging roads, something most counties with 911 services don't do.

This information was given to Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., as required by them.

At this point, every livable structure in the county outside of a city limits was given a new 911 address, some 4,732 in all.

Inside city limits, most addresses remained the same. Any changes came from streets with similar names having to be changed.

Then came phase III, which was informing county residents in rural areas of their new 911 addresses.

Bullard said all residents, with the exception of those on route 3 in Arkadelphia, have been notified of their new address.

Actually, these addresses have been done, but not officially approved by the post office.

These addresses are also used by utility companies, as well as SW Bell and emergency personnel.

The fourth and final phase will consist of getting the equipment installed and operational.

Bullard said equipment will be installed in the Arkadelphia Police Department as well as the Clark County Sheriff's Office, at a cost of about $150,000 for both.

He said the equipment has already been ordered, and takes about four months to arrive.

The center at the APD office will handle calls inside the Arkadelphia city limits, while the CCSO station will take care of all other emergency calls.

At this time, electricians are looking at what will have to be done to the police station and sheriff's office in order to be able to wire the equipment in.

Bullard said in 1992, when the voters approved the 911 issue, the City of Arkadelphia went ahead with plans for its system.

The county judge at the time voiced his opposition to this, but city officials wanted a 911 point of their own. After much debate, it was decided to install two separate units.

Now, Bullard said, if there is a problem with one system, calls can be routed to the other, giving Clark County an automatic backup.

In addition, he said, if the two 911 point system doesn't work out, one can be removed.

However, no new people will be hired at either location. Bullard said the current dispatchers will be trained on how to handle 911 calls, in addition to the duties they now have.

He assured the Rotarians no callers to 911 would get busy signals, and all calls will be handled on a first in, first out basis. He said no one will be put on hold either.

All calls will be coded, which will direct them to either the APD or CCSO, and as to the emergency service needed.

In case of fires, Bullard said the caller should inform the dispatcher which fire service protection they subscribe to, otherwise, all fire calls will be routed to the nearest fire department.

He said there was a small problem in addressing, though. Some people use post office boxes for their address, and 911 must have a physical location.

There were 76 such addresses in Gurdon, Bullard said.

Discussing Gurdon, Bullard said there is also a problem with the city map. It apparently shows streets which no longer exist and needs to be updated.

However, he said Mayor Rick Smith is aware of the situation and is working to help correct the problem.