Hoopie World

Northwest Regional 911 Closes Its Doors

Visit our Partner Site: MonYoughFire.com

On Tuesday, March 29, 2005, Northwest Regional 9-1-1 will answer and dispatch it's last 9-1-1 call. At 22:30 hours, all Northwest employees became employees of Allegheny County. At 06:30 the next morning, all communications officially were handled by the County's 911 center in Point Breeze. One of the original seven regional centers created when Allegheny County finally went to Enhanced 9-1-1, no one expected Northwest to last. However, for 6-1/2 years, Northwest was, in the words of former Northwest Shift Commander Chip Deutsch, "the little center that could." Three centers fell and were merged with the county before Northwest: Mon-Valley, Southwest, and even the City of Pittsburgh. Northwest had staying power.

But alas, the money ran out. With municipalities slashing their budgets to keep taxes low and residents happy, the communities decided not to pay for a service they could get for free elsewhere. Eventually, something had to be done. That "little center that could" couldn't hold on forever.

As a former employee of Northwest, I must say I enjoyed my time working at the center. Aside from Gator's computer crashing every ten minutes and a few other "intricacies" of the employees and the center that will go unmentioned (those who worked there know what I'm talking about), we had fun. And when there was nothing to laugh about, you could always count on Alice (another inside reference).

Just before 22:30 on Tuesday, Shift Commander Chip Deutsch lit up the Zetron Encoder one last time with a message to all. It was then that Chip officially signed-off on an era in public safety in the North Hills. Current and former employees of the center, as well as some friends and a camera guy from Channel 11 were on hand to witness the end of something special. Although the doors will be closed, the lights will be off, and the equipment unplugged, the memory of that "little center that could" can, and will, hold on forever.

Pictures Provided by: Chip Deutsch

Audio Files Provided by: Steve Panormios

© 2003-2005 - Hoopie World. All Rights Reserved. - Last Updated: 03/30/2005