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Computer-Aided Dispatching (CAD) |
| Computer technology is used heavily in our
state of the art communications center. A computer aided dispatching program by Ossi,
is used to
record requests for services and the response of emergency units.
The program also provides addressing and cross street information
and can be used to flag special information at any address, such
as special hazards, individuals needing special care (like a
person on a heart condition), special directions to a location,
and which emergency services agencies cover that location.
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| Click to see a picture of our CAD
system
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CAD Mapping
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Our computer aided dispatching program by Ossi,
now features a sophisticated map of our county and also significant
portions of each neighboring jurisdiction. It
is used to plot addresses and ease the forwarding of directions to aid the response of emergency units.
With new Phase II implementation, when someone dials 911 on a GPS enabled
telephone or cellular network, our CAD system "talks" to our
phone system, taking latitude and longitude coordinates and plotting the
callers location on the map.
The map shows cell tower locations, fire hydrant
locations, fire & EMS stations and response areas, railroads,
utilities, VDOT response areas, water features, FEMA flood zones, aerial
photography and much more.
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Radio Console
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| Computer technology is even
used for our state of the art radio system. Our Motorola
Centracom Gold Elite tm radio is all on a
computer screen. Communications with field units is only a mouse
click away with this system.
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Telephone Console
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| The lifeline of any E911
center is it's telephone system. Our center is no different.
Our center features Enhanced 911 call
answering using a Positron
Life Line 100 E911 ANI/ALI Controller and Workstations.
We will soon feature Positron
Simon touch screen telephone consoles to make a faster and easier job
of being there for your emergencies.
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NOAA Weather Radio Alert System
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| With the aid of a Weather
Eagle 100 tm weather radio from Thunder
Eagle Inc., our center maintains a dedicated radio link
to the National Weather Service in Blacksburg Virginia for immediate
notification of severe weather conditions. This helps us get the
"jump" on conditions that may jeopardize the well-being
of our county residents, such as tornadoes, electrical storms,
hazardous snow conditions, high winds, etc.
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Weather Satellite System
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| The center also relies on weather
information received via the Meteorlogix
MxVision WeatherSentry™ system.
Dispatchers in the communications center, as well as those
operating in our EOC are able to see the latest radar maps,
severe weather info., and alerts all at the touch of a button.
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See the local radar picture. |
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Recording System
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| All emergency and non-emergency telephones
and all radio frequencies are recorded by our Exacom
Hindsight Recorder. Telecommunicators are also able to immediately
play back any telephone conversations or radio traffic if they need to clarify
something. This is done right on the dispatchers desktop, through a
network connected browser.
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Alpha
Paging Systems
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| The center employs the use of an
alphanumeric paging network for contacting all of our on call
emergency response personnel, and to keep them up to date with
the latest weather conditions, important news, and general
information. The system helps to cut down radio traffic, and
information can be saved and viewed at a later time. We access
the paging network directly through our computer workstations with NotePager
Net software.
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Send a Metrocall page to someone you
know!
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Backup Electrical Power Systems
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| The communications center building and all
remote tower sites have adequate backup emergency electrical
power generators in case commercial power is lost or interrupted.
Power is almost always restored immediately. Our MGE
UPS back up system is used to keep uninterrupted power to all computers. We also
have sophisticated lightening protection devices on our
electrical, phone, and computer systems.
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Computer Systems
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| As you can see, we are very
a technologically savvy center. Without computers, our center would
be slow and behind the times. We recently upgraded our workstations
to brand new Dell tm OPTIPLEX tm GX260
computers running Intel® Pentium® 4 processors, at 2.40 GHz,
with 512 MB of RAM, Intel® Gigabit Nic's, and Windows® XP
Professional OS.
All of our servers are Dell
tm PowerEdge tm
servers, 1300, 2400, AND 1500SC series, running Windows®
2000 Server.
Printers are HP LaserJet 2100 and 5100
series.
The large majority of out monitors are
17" or larger flat panel models.
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