The emergency response system in Orangeburg County is getting a significant enhancement, with the goal of better enabling 911 personnel to aid county residents when crises occur.
County leaders announced that the new system, known as VIPER 7.0, will strengthen the technology behind emergency calls and improve coordination between agencies. The upgrade, which costs just over $224,000, focuses on behind-the-scenes software improvements rather than building new facilities.
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At present, the typical response time for emergency medical services in Orangeburg County is around 13 minutes, whereas for fire departments, it’s about 10 minutes. Authorities think that upgrading the technology might cut these durations and add features like allowing texts to 911 and transmitting pictures directly via smartphones.
“That’s a very important piece of our technology and the backbone for our communication systems,” said Harold Young, Orangeburg County Administrator. “Back in the day when you had legacy 911 systems, all they dealt with was voice calls. Now, this 911 system and next generation 911 systems allow us to use the technology for integrated multimedia texting and all the platforms that come along with cellphones.”
The $224,476 price tag will not be covered by local taxes. Instead, the county will use the
911 tariff fund
, a charge incorporated into residents’ phone bills that funds emergency services across the country.
“The 911 center is a very complex center and this upgrade also is a big part of this upgrade allows for redundancy and that redundancy helps us in case of outages and things of that nature to be able to still provide a 911 service and it also is the information that, that is critical to pass upon to first responders and stuff as we deal with, with accidents,” Young said.
County officials expect the system to be installed by the end of the year, although full implementation and dispatcher training will take several additional months.
After completion, residents will have the option to reach out to 911 via telephone calls as well as through texts, pictures, and video clips, providing emergency personnel with additional resources to evaluate and address crises promptly.
