Since the mid-1990s, it has become the standard model for countywide 911 systems to operate in a unified way, combining emergency-answering services with fire, EMS and police dispatch in a single facility, situated in a pod-like structure. Spartanburg, Charleston and Columbia have had this type of system for several years — but not Greenville.
Today, if you call 911 from your mobile phone, your call is answered by the Greenville County 911 center. If you need a fire department response in Simpsonville, Greer or in the city of Greenville, you will be put on hold and literally transferred to that fire agency (or police department who then dispatches the fire department). Every agency in the county dispatches their own vehicle and personnel to you; it is not handled in a unified way.
Recently, I needed help getting my 79-year-old father, who is receiving treatment for cancer, back to his feet because I couldn’t do it alone. I called 911 and asked for help. The county 911 operator put me on hold (which felt like an eternity) and they literally transferred my call to Simpsonville police, who dispatched the Simpsonville fire department.
It is 2023. We have balloons flying over our country listening to our conversations and electric cars that nearly drive themselves, yet Greenville County has an outdated 911 system often requiring those who are at their most vulnerable to be placed on hold and transferred to another department where you have to ask for help a second time.
It is time for the region’s two largest entities — Greenville County Council and Greenville City Council — to set aside their egos and come together to build a modern state-of-the-art Emergency Communications Center. This unified Emergency Communications Center would combine the dispatch function for every fire department, law enforcement and EMS agency in Greenville County under one roof, in one room, where they can operate efficiently, cohesively and in a manner where lifesaving help arrives faster when you or a family member needs it the most — and that help never arrives fast enough.
I hope Greenville County Council Chairman Dan Tripp and Mayor Knox White see this and act quickly.
Will Morin, MS, MPA
Simpsonville, SC
Former NY State EMT 1995-2007
