911 Service for Kitimat-Stikine Regional District

Thursday, January 29, 2009 12:00 PM

Prince George, B.C. - The RCMP Operational Communication Centre in Prince George is adding 911 call answering for the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine to its list of duties. The centre will now provide services to communities including Smithers, Terrace, Kitimat, New Hazelton, and Moricetown.

Officer in Charge for the RCMP Communications Centre in Prince George Sandy Vogstad says that will likely result in approximately 10,000 to 15,000 additional 911 calls a year. While that may sound like a large increase, the Operational Communication Centre already takes over 80,000 calls for service each year. It already acts as the Public Safety Access Point for the Peace, Fraser-Fort George and Cariboo Regional Districts.

Vogstad says the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine began working with stakeholders, including the RCMP, back in 2005. The process involved working out details for 911 service with the RCMP Communications Centre along with a process for transferring fire calls to the centralized fire dispatch in Prince George and to B.C. Ambulance dispatch in Kamloops.

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Posted on Thursday, January 29, 2009 12:00 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: metalman on January 29 2009 12:56 PM

I hear the local operators are overworked already.......hey! let's outsource 911 to India! just kidding. I assume that the Kitimat Stikine district did not have 911 service before (?) so this would be good news for that region.
metalman.

Posted by: tinyapplecork on January 29 2009 10:07 PM

No Kitimat-Stikine does not have 911 service - (unless you count cell phones). The residents of Kitimat had mixed ideas about going to 911. They already receive fantastic services and expressed concerns of delays due to dispatch times. The current mayor of Kitimat pushed for this service. We all pay a fee for the service on cell phones so some argued for reimbursement. Emergency numbers in Kitimat are easy to dial. Will be interesting to see how the seniors manage with the change. They still struggle with adding 250 when they dial. Could be a challenging adjustment for them. I suspect most will continue to dial the existing numbers regardless.