York County, Va. (WTKR) - Additional cell phone carriers are being added to the program that allows folks to send text messages to 911 dispatchers in York and James City Counties.
Terry Hall, Chief of Emergency Communications for the York-Poquoson-Williamsburg Emergency Communications Center, tells NewsChannel 3 that York County's center was initially launched with just support for Verizon customers.
In May, Sprint and AT&T were added to York County's system and Hall says T-Mobile is in the process of coming online within the next 30-60 days.
He also says that Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile are also in the process of being added to the text 911 system in James City County.
Emergency officials stress that the texting system is meant to augment phone calls to 911 dispatchers, not replace them.
Since the system was activated in York County in late 2012, Hall says there have been 12 cases where actual emergency situations have been reported using text messages.
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