Emergency calls to 911 in Fort Worth a year ago were answered and serviced in ways very different from such calls made today — differences that, ideally, the caller doesn’t notice.
Chesterton’s Town Council and Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson are calling for the immediate resignation of Porter County E-911 Director Debbie Gunn, accusing her of false statements regarding the performance of the Chesterton/Porter joint dispatch center during the June 18 officer-involved shooting.
Following a vote by the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SREC) Board to end their contract for dispatch services for the Spokane Fire Department (SFD) on January 1, 2026, City of Spokane replied with plans to create their own emergency communications system.
Phelps County Communication Center has been renamed the Paula Volkmer 9-1-1 Center in honor of its long-time chief.
“She gave her life to a purpose,” said Steve Zap, Phelps County Emergency Services District board chairman said June 19 just before the board meeting. “She wanted the officers and agencies that she dispatched for to be safe and to be more efficient. She wanted to do what she could to catch the bad guys, and she wanted to keep the people in Phelps County safe.”
Today, NENA: The 9-1-1 Association announced the appointment of John Provenzano as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective July 14. The announcement came at the start of the NENA 2025 Conference & Expo in Long Beach, California.
Fort Smith and Sebastian County are working to consolidate all emergency calls into one location. The City of Fort Smith will operate the new consolidated 911 call center. A board made up of city and county leaders will oversee the facility, but they only have about 18 months to get the new center built and operational. During an emergency, 911 is often the first call for help. Just in Fort Smith alone, dispatchers answered more than 60,000 emergency calls last year.
