Summers County Emergency Services adds texting 911 to its services

HINTON, WV (WVNS) — An innovative new program has been rolled out in Summers County.

The program is to allow everyone in the county to get the emergency services they need with just a few taps of their fingers.

Texting is part of most people’s daily lives at this point, but texting to call for emergency services is far less common than you might think. Summers County 911 brought this service to everyone in their county though.

Loyd Lowry, the 911 Office of Emergency Management Director for the county, said he fought hard for this program.

“We’re very excited for this program. It allows citizens that are within the constraints of Summers County via geo-fencing, [to use the service] if they use the text function on their phone and dial 911 and send the text message. We can receive it and respond to it and provide emergency services,” explained Lowry.

The texts will work the same as if someone calls 911. The dispatcher will get as much information as they can while the program sends the 911 center the exact location of the phone sending the messages. Then, the dispatcher can deploy the relevant service to assist.

Lowry said there are more benefits to the program than you might initially think.

“It’s gonna be huge asset for any residents that have hearing impairments, speaking impairments, [ . . . ] if [the caller is] in a situation where their voice could get them in potential trouble – like if they’re hiding from an attacker or if there’s a burglar in their house and they’re hiding from somebody. They don’t wanna be heard,” Lowry said.

The system can also translate 20 different languages. This will allow non-English speakers or people who speak limited English to text for emergency services in their native language. They will receive a translated response from dispatchers.

Lowry said he feels confident in the program based on data from the other 28 counties in the state that utilize it.

“All the responses that we’ve received talking to our other counties that have this program up, it’s been very positive. There’s been no issues or anything with the program – it’s very resolvent,” said Lowry. “And it’s another method for us to have people to reach us in the case of an emergency. It’s not gonna be something that we expect to use a whole lot, but when we do have those situations to where it can be very useful. It’s nice to have that in place for our citizens.”

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