Regional Resiliency Initiative Ensures Uninterrupted 911 Services
EVERETT, Wash., June 13, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Two of Washington State's largest 911 centers, Snohomish County 911 (SNO911) and Valley Com 9-1-1, have formed an innovative partnership to assure continuity of emergency communications services during disruptions or system outages. This Regional Resiliency Initiative combines Next Generation 911 (NG911) capabilities with a custom cloud-based Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) solution called CAD-L.
On June 5th, the two centers successfully conducted a live 911 call re-routing drill that validated this groundbreaking vision over four years in the making. It is believed to be the first resiliency solution of this magnitude introduced in the United States.
Ensuring Seamless Dispatch During Outages
While NG911 has enabled 911 call re-routing between centers since 2012, effectively dispatching responders in another jurisdiction with different policies and protocols has remained a challenge. SNO911 created CAD-L, a cloud-hosted backup CAD system accessible via browser, to maintain dispatch capabilities during planned downtimes.
CAD-L operates independently from the primary CAD and supports essential features to initiate and manage emergency responses. It was designed for partner centers to easily localize and use with minimal training.
A Perfect Partnership
SNO911 and Valley Com 9-1-1 were ideal partners, being consolidated multi-discipline 911 centers of similar size, call volumes, and staffing levels. Both have dedicated backup facilities to rapidly relocate operations if needed.
The centers' locations over 40 miles apart proved inconsequential, as the partnership could effectively operate across the state.
While NG911 addressed re-routing calls, the complex task was developing an effective backup CAD solution. Unable to find a commercial product, SNO911 commissioned a software firm to create CAD-L.
Robust CAD Capabilities
CAD-L provides core CAD functionality localized for each agency, including geo-validating locations, identifying jurisdictions and beats, designating incident types and priorities, assigning and tracking units, and seamlessly integrating with RapidSOS.
As a secure, Elastic web application hosted on AWS GovCloud, CAD-L dynamically scales to meet peak demands while minimizing costs during inactivity.
Successful Live 911 Drill
SNO911 Board President Jon Nehring praised this milestone in collaboration: "On behalf of the SNO911 Board of Directors, I want to extend my congratulations to the entire team at SNO911 and our partners at Valley Com 9-1-1 on this first in the nation achievement. This partnership fortifies the resiliency of the 911 system for over 1.5 million residents in a way that will save lives when minutes matter most.”
About SNO911
Snohomish County 911 is an integrated emergency services team providing the vital lifeline between public safety responders and our community. Located in Everett, Washington, SNO911 serves communities throughout the Snohomish County to a population of 840,000. https://sno911.org
About Valley Com 9-1-1
Located in Kent, Washington, Valley Communications Center provides emergency communications services to communities of South King County. https://valleycom.org/
Source: Snohomish County 911
