HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) – Summers County’s 911 Center activated text-to-911 service Wednesday morning, becoming the 28th county Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in West Virginia to offer the emergency communication option.
The new service is a requirement for meeting Next Generation 911 standards and provides an alternative way to contact emergency services for people with hearing and speech impairments, those who are unable to speak safely, or those who do not understand English.
To use the service, people should open a text message window, type 911 in the “to” field, and describe the emergency in the message. The 911 Center will receive the sender’s location and other data. Dispatchers can also send text messages and translate them into 20 languages.
For questions or comments about the service, contact Summers County’s 911 Center at 304-466-5613 or through Facebook Messenger.
