Bedford County 911 requests tower equipment funds

Equipment needs replacing to stay up-to-date

BEDFORD -- The Bedford County Department of Emergency Services will need to replace emergency equipment in eight towers to ensure the county's 911 system remains up-to-date.

During budget talks Tuesday with the county commissioners, emergency services Director Brittany McConnell said the current equipment in the towers is near "end of life" and it will be difficult to find replacement parts if they stop working.

Antennas, coax cables and comparators all need to be replaced, she said, noting that some of the equipment is grant-eligible while others aren't.

The county will need to cover the pieces of equipment not covered by grants, however, the grant award is currently unknown, which is why her department couldn't present a dollar amount to the commissioners on Tuesday.

Without grant funding, she said replacing the tower equipment will cost over $3 million.

Equipment replacements will start in 2027 and continue until 2029, beginning with towers that receive the most calls in the area. The state maintains the ninth tower in Bedford County, so the commonwealth updates and regulates its equipment, she said.

At the end of the meeting, McConnell told the commissioners that Pennsylvania officially lists telecommunicators as first responders because of the recent approval of House Bill 453.

"Sometimes they're the first, first responders," commissioner Deb Baughman said.

McConnell said part-time dispatcher Colette DeLong took the emergency call when a private jet crashed in Bedford County on Oct. 7. Because she is also a pilot, she knew more questions to ask the individuals making the call that day.

"My first question when they called me, I asked, 'Did they get out, and were there any passengers?' because that's your biggest concern," McConnell said.

She said they will use that accident to build future emergency-plan exercises. As for the cause of the private jet crash, she said it will take 30 days to receive an updated report and perhaps a year to receive a final report.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.