The Haywood County 9-1-1 Communications Center, also known as Haywood Communications, answers emergency and non-emergency calls for service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and dispatches the appropriate help. The professional staff is dedicated to providing quality service not only to our citizens but also to the first responders that we serve.
Emergency communications in the mind of both citizens and public safety professionals are synonymous with “911”; the number dialed in an emergency.
Major responsibilities of Haywood County’s Communications Center personnel include but are not limited to:
- Receive, handle and dispatch calls for EMS, Fire, and all law enforcement agencies operating within the County.
- Alert the appropriate law enforcement agency, EMS unit, or Fire station of an emergency and provide dispatch information and instructions accordingly.
- Continue to monitor and support the call and the responding service by maintaining on-going communications and following the efforts of those responder(s) to the incident and throughout the incident scene activities that follow.
- Implement emergency medical dispatch (EMD) protocols during medical emergencies;
- Remain on the line with the caller to obtain as much additional patient/victim information as possible.
- Simultaneously and continuously alert the responding EMT’s as to the patient’s condition.
- Provide actual medical/first aid instructions to the caller to help the victim.
- Receive and handle all non-emergency (“administrative”) calls requesting assistance or information; including:
- License tag checks
- Inquiries regarding outstanding warrants
- Request for information; directions, phone numbers, names, etc.
- Requests for assistance at a crime or accident scene
- Duplicate calls
- Nefarious or misplaced calls
The 911 Telecommunicators are the “first” emergency responders and play a critical role in answering any call for assistance. No matter what discipline of emergency services is needed, the telecommunicator must be efficient and professional to ensure the proper resources are sent to an appropriate location and that the responding field agencies receive the correct information. Technology has changed drastically from the days of pencil and paper, however one constant still remains; the telecommunicator. Beginning in the 1990s with the proliferation of E-911, communication centers have evolved to provide pre-arrival instructions to callers and information to responding agencies that save lives. Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems now route responders by GPS coordinates, aerial maps, and Automatic Vehicle Locators.
The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center is the Primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for the county. The center provides dispatching and centralized communications for three police departments, 15 fire departments (including four paid and 11 volunteer departments), two Fire Marshals, County Emergency Services, eight paramedic-level Emergency Medical Services (EMS) units located in four municipalities (Waynesville, Canton, Clyde, and Maggie Valley), Haywood County Rescue Squad, Search and Rescue Team, and County Sheriff’s Office.
