Texas County improves dispatch service
GUYMON- Located on South Perkins Avenue, Texas County’s 9-1-1 Consolidated Center became operational and was fully consolidated on June 29, 2020. The Consolidated Center is a standalone agency that has been in the works for the last five years by the Texas County 9-1-1 Trust Authority. Justin Carnagey, Trust Authority Director, shared that in the past two years, it has moved forward tremendously. Sheriff Matt Boley, Trust Authority Sheriff, commented, “Once we got a board of members that we all thought could help get this done, we got started.” The Trust Authority has a seven member Trust Board, which consists of Texas County Commissioner Ricahrd Bryan, Texas County Sheriff Matt Boley, Guymon Fire Chief Grant Wadley, Guymon Police Chief Michael Babb, and Emergency Service Agencies representatives from Hooker, Frosty Osborn, and Texhoma, Bill Baber.
Texas County 9-11 Consolidated Center receives all 9-1-1 calls for Texas County. Instead of being directed to a different county or department, every call makes its way to the Consolidated Center, then the appropriate department i.e. fire department, EMS, police department, will be dispatched.The Texas County 9-1-1 Consolidated Dispatch Center currently dispatches for: eight law enforcement agencies including Texas County Sheriff’s Department, Guymon Police Department, Goodwell PD, Hooker PD, Texhoma PD, Ty
rone PD, the District Attorney’s Task Force, and the Guymon Public Schools PD; 11 Fire Departments (FD) including Adams FD, Baker FD, Goodwell FD, Guymon FD, Hardesty FD, Hooker FD, Hough FD, Optima FD, Texhoma FD, Tyrone FD, and Yarbrough FD; 3 Ambulance Services including
Goodwell EMS, Guymon EMS, and Hooker EMS; and one Emergency Medical Response Agency – Texhoma. Carnagey explained that in the past, there was an unnecessary wait time after a person dialed 9-1-1. Whereas now, that wait time has been cut tremendously. “Citizens are the number one customers, so cutting response time was crucial,” Carnagey stated.
The biggest issues that stood in the way with getting the Consolidated Center up and running were funding and a location. The Trust Authority Board, which consists of seven members, was hard at work saving to make this possible for Texas County. In addition, the Consolidated Center also has a backup facility located at PTCI in case of an emergency. Although COVID-19
put a rush on the installation of equipment, the Trust Authority was still able to start operating on time and even hopes to install additional equipment to improve the dispatch service in Texas County. The non-emergency number for the new center is (580)468-0915. For all EMS/Fire/Police related emergencies in Texas County, callers should dial 9-1-1.