Florida, South Carolina Counties Set Up Groundbreaking 911 Backup Network

Two coastal counties launched a first-of-its-kind emergency response system. The network links Collier County, Florida, and Charleston County, South Carolina, letting them handle each other's crisis calls when disaster strikes. This fix came after Hurricane Ian left Collier without 911 service.

"If you call 911 for help in Collier County, it needs to be answered," said Bob Finney, director of communications technology at Collier 911, to WINK News.

The system gives staff instant access to vital details about callers in both areas. Workers studied maps and methods from each county to make sure they could send help fast.

The idea started with a casual chat between Finney and Charleston County director Jim Lake. "We were actually just sitting down... having a conversation: 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this?'" Finney said.

Tests proved the system works. Lake explained: "The technology today allows us to get that location information into our system as well. We're going to ask the questions we normally would send the information to Collier, and they're going to dispatch."

Callers won't notice if their emergency gets routed to another state. "They're not going to know that maybe an operator here is not taking their call because they're all trained, very similar training between us and South Carolina," Finney said.

The local sheriff backs the plan completely. "Our system's ready. Everything's in place here. Everything's in place there, should we need it. They're here to help us, and we're here to help them," stated Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.

This marks the first time counties from two different states have built such a backup plan. As the 2025 storm season nears, both centers stand ready to pitch in when needed.