The Dare County Sheriff's Office is encouraging visitors to the Outer Banks to know exactly where they are in case of an emergency. Cell phones sometimes share inaccurate or incomplete location data with 911 dispatch, so knowing your street address can make it easier for help to find you.
Assistant Director Lora Nock said the 911 Center handles twice as many calls in the summer months as it does in the off-season.
“If you know Dare County, the lay of the land, we are actually one small long strip on the far eastern coast,” said Nock. “And that long strip, with the amount of tourists and the traffic that we have on the main road, that alone holds up some of the calls trying to get to an emergency as well as trying to find the location.”
Nock says the 911 Center is running a public service announcement at movie theaters and distributing pamphlets at summer rental homes to remind tourists to be aware of their locations.
Nock says minutes make an enormous difference in responding to fires, strokes, and water emergencies.
