Luce County Emergency Services

Central Dispatch Information  

Chippewa Central Dispatch is charged with the following primary tasks for Luce County

• Answer all 911 and non-emergency calls within Luce County and provide direction or instruction to those callers

• Dispatch police, fire and ambulance services

• Provide an after-hours answering point for the Human Services and all county Department of Public works 

Extensively trained full-time and authorized part-time personnel staff the center 24 hours, 365 days a year, providing service to Luce county’s residents.

 

When You Need Help   

To report a potential life or property-threatening incident, dial 911. It may take up to 7 seconds before you’ll hear a ringing tone while your call is routed to our center – do not hang up and call back! Once your call is answered, tell us:  

• The location where help is needed

• The phone number you are calling from

• What exactly is going on now

• Your name  

 

The telecommunicator may ask questions to determine what kind of assistance to provide – these questions will ultimately allow us to help you or those in need. Depending on your problem, we may ask:  

• For a description of your residence or property

• If you are willing to help the person

• Who else is nearby

• A description of any persons or vehicles involved

• Other questions related to the specific type of incident  

All full-time dispatch personnel are Emergency Medical Dispatch certified and are able to provide “pre-arrival instructions” to callers on everything from infant CPR to managing a seizure patient.

If you need help but are unable to speak dial 911 and leave the phone off the hook. If you’re calling from a non-cellular type phone, we most likely will get the address you are calling from and will dispatch the appropriate agency(s) based upon what we hear and the type of call history from your location.

Call our non-emergency number, (906) 495-3312, for things such as:  

• Barking dogs, noise complaints or loud vehicles

• VIN inspections (providing you have the necessary Secretary of State paperwork)

• Peace officer standby’s

• Events that occurred more than 24 hours ago

 

How 911 Works

If you are calling from a non-cellular phone, your phone provider routs the call through various switches; these switches determine which call center to send you to. It may make up to seven seconds for this to happen. Do not hang up!

Once the call is answered by the 911 center, things happen all at once. After a couple of seconds the following information should be displayed:  

• The phone number you’re calling from

• The name of the person who the phone is registered to

• The address where the phone is located

• What emergency providers cover your area

• Any notes about the location we may have added, such as house description or known problems  

At the same time, the address will be plotted on our GIS, or mapping, software; additionally, call information is sent to our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, which we use to enter calls, keep track of units, identify known hazards or prior responses to specific locations and keep record of individual contacts, among many other functions.

When you dial “911” from a cell (wireless) phone, the closest cellular tower picks up the call and sends it to the 911 center that services the area the tower is located in. In most places, only your cell number is shown. Luce County uses “Phase 2 Wireless”, which will plot your location on our mapping software to within 300 feet or less – we have recently had a test call that was within 10 feet of the cell phone.

If you accidentally dial 911, DO NOT HANG UP. After you press the last “1” the call will be sent to the call center. Should we be unable to make contact with you, a law enforcement officer will be sent to your location to make certain things are okay. This may keep someone else who legitimately needs help from getting it sooner.

Make it easy for help to find you
Be certain your address is correctly and prominently displayed in front of your residence! Tell the telecommunicator if your home is not visible from the roadway or is down a lane.

Not only does posting your address help emergency services find you, it’s also required by Luce County ordinance. Also if requesting a NEW address a building permit is REQUIRED. For further information on this ordinance, contact dispatch director Chris Peterson 906-293-9980.

 

Chris Peterson, Director

Luce County 911 Central Dispatch

5523 County Road 399
Newberry MI 49868

(906) 293-9980