There are changes coming to the 911 services in Hearst starting in 2025. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission is asking all communities to start using the new NG9-1-1 system instead of their existing programs.
Chief Administrative Officer Eric Picard says town council has directed staff to study various options, including contracting out of 911 services to private call centres.
“But it is the one that offers by far the cheapest option but also the one with the less risk to the municipality with someone else taking the charge of the software the answering all those things,” he said. “Kind of need to have to have an operating 911 service.”
Picard says the next generation system is pretty high tech and looks like what you might see on television.
“It’s a sync between the internet. It will use mapping software, GPS locations a wealth of other information to make it quicker and easier to respond to calls either fire ambulance or anything like that,” he explained
The Town of Hearst currently uses a local company Communication to cover all of its services. That agreement expires at the end of next year.
