Wood and Buchanan examine sample county addressing map
By Bob Weaver
Completing E-911 addressing and mapping in West Virginia has been a rocky road, from hired outfits that didn't get the job done and went belly-up to squabbles over the system itself.
Calhoun County has had some well-intended efforts, sometimes irritating the public.
Now, it's just about done with the approval of the greater Chloe area.
There are about 3,400 E-911 addresses in the county.
In West Virginia, E-911 addressing and mapping is completed in 13 counties, 11 are pending completion, and 31 unfinished. Twenty-seven of the 31 unfinished counties are about 50% complete.
 Addressing and Mapping Coordinator Gary Buchanan (pictured left) said he was once a complainer himself about getting it done. "It has taken day to day perseverance," describing a singleness of purpose.
Buchanan is also spearheading the effort to erect about 130 new private road signs, all of which have received new names.
Calhoun, despite being a rather small county, has nearly 600 miles of roads.
The system is about getting help quicker, and getting the correct responders to a scene.
When a call is made, the new E-911 addresses comes up on a computer screen at the county center, linking to the phone number to the physical location.
 Kathy Wood (pictured left), the county's E-911/OES Director said the center's CAD (Computer Aided Dispatching) will be activated this year. It will pull-up a map which will route responders the best way to reach a location.
Three-percent of E-911 funds have been designated to activate a locater system for cell phones, which will spot the location of the cell phone caller.
The E-911 Advisory Board has already reviewed the hard copy of county mapping and address books, which will be issued to all county fire departments, law enforcement, and the ambulance service. The books will be carried in all vehicles.
Giant E-911 maps with locations and addresses are being issued to all responders for their home stations and offices.
The county's E-911 system has just installed special radio alerts at the current radio towers which will give notice when a power failure happens.
"We're working on improving the electrical back-up systems when there is a power outage," said Wood, in addition to constructing new tower and radio transmitters to improve county-wide communication.
"The county has 31 mail routes, 17 different post offices, eight in the county and nine out of the county," Buchanan said.
Buchanan said he is grateful to the former 911 Directors, responders, mail carriers, the advisory board and the Calhoun Commission, who have been helpful with the effort.
"We really want to thank county residents for their patience and cooperation," Buchanan said.
"The green signs are still really important to help responders," Buchanan concluded, with GPS devices likely to become part of the system in the future.
Free E-911 address signs and posts are still available by calling 304-354-0911.
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