Horry County E911 celebrates 20th anniversary

CONWAY – Horry County E911 will celebrate its 20^th anniversary on Friday, October 1.

According to press release, in October 1990, there were 12 dispatchers for the unincorporated areas of Horry County, four for fire and EMS, with only one working at any one time, in which all fire fighters at the time were volunteers and eight for police.

Citizens would have to call 7-digit numbers to ask for help and had to call their closest EMS station for medical assistance.

Toni Bessent, Horry County E911 Director, remembers being a paramedic prior to October 1990 waiting to respond to a call from a woman needing medical attention after suffering a brain aneurysm, however it took them over 45 minutes talking to the lethargic woman to figure out where exactly she lived.

She ended up living only 1 mile from an EMS station.

Once 911 was established in Horry County 20 years ago, citizens could call one number (911) and receive help from police, fire, and EMS and dispatchers would automatically receive the phone number they were calling from and more importantly the address where they were calling from.

Another huge benefit at that time was that people could use a pay phone without having money to dial 911 to ask for help.

In 1990, it was long distance to call Loris from Conway or Little River to Conway.

In the mid 90s, Horry County E911 hit another milestone when they were able to get the phone numbers of cell phone callers. 

It wasn’t until 2005, when a physical location could be received by a cell phone caller which now gives longitude and latitude coordinates and translates that data into a physical address.

Today, Horry County E911 has 57 employees and assists all citizens and visitors by answering emergency and non-emergency calls, dispatching Horry County Police, Atlantic Beach Police, Aynor Police, Briarcliffe Acres Police, Conway Fire/Rescue, Surfside Fire/Rescue, Horry County Fire/Rescue, and Horry County Sheriff’s Office, and maintaining records.

They also provide medical pre-arrival instructions to assist callers in giving help to the sick and injured before medical personnel arrive and dispatch calls to Environmental Services officers for issues with domesticated animals, as well as calls for a Litter Control officer.

Horry County E911 has a state-of-the-art system and was selected as the 2009 South Carolina "Communications Center of the Year" by the S.C. Association of Public Safety Communication Officials and the International/National Emergency Number Association.

Interesting annual statistics:

E911 in 1991                                                                   E911 Currently

Answered approximately 80,000 calls                      Answers about 215,000 calls

45,000 police incidents dispatched                          124,000 police incidents dispatched

22,500 Fire/EMS incidents dispatched                      42,500 Fire/EMS incidents dispatched