HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Finishing touches are being made to the new Huntsville Madison County 911 Center.
In about a month, 911 operators will be able to move into their new facility in Huntsville/Madison County.
Huntsville Madison County 911 Center CEO Ernie Blair: "We're going to be moving agency by agency. We're going to start with 911 and move them out and get them fully operational, then move the next agency over a few days, so by the end of September, we should be live."
Crews broke ground on the center in 2017 and it will be completed in about a month. The center will have state of the art equipment, like new phone and radio systems.
According to Huntsville Madison County 911 COO Chris Tucker, the new radio system will provide superior quality communications between 911 and emergency field responders.
The new center will be able to accommodate 51 operating positions, compared to 31 at the previous building.
Board of Commissioners Chair, Dr. Lee Gradford, said, "This new facility will allow us to invite and house other agencies, and we have had requests and interests from other agencies like NASA, like the colleges, like highway patrol, and others."
They put in living quarters for workers to stay overnight during bad weather events. It has a kitchen, quiet room, break rooms, and an exercise room.
To make the main area more comfortable, they added high ceilings and windows.
Hal Gandy with PH&J Architects said, "You can tell if it's night, sunshine, raining, shining, whatever it's doing, and that kind of helps these guys as they're in there working long shifts to have some sense of what's going on in the world outside."
Room for more positions means that they are hiring new 911 call center workers. Qualifications for the position include a high school diploma or GED, being able to type at least 35 words per minute with a 90% accuracy, ability to pass a test designed for a call-taker position, complete a personality assessment, submit to a background check, physical exam and pre-employment drug screen.
Click here for more information about the position.
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