JEFFCOM 9-1-1
                  Serving Jefferson County Washington

 History and Evolution of Jeffcom

At a time when Seattle was little more than a muddy village, Port Townsend had an emergency communication system that was state of the art for it’s day.  The center piece of the system was the Port Townsend Bell Tower.  In October of 1889, the American Telegraph Company was given authority to erect poles and string wires, the poles to be equipped with boxes containing signaling devices for the transmission of fire alarms.  When the alarms came in, an ingenious system of paper tapes printed out at the Bell Tower and the bell was struck in a particular pattern that alerted fire fighters of the location and size of the fire.  At the time this equipment was developed, the only practical use of electricity was the telegraph, where the human hand used a telegraph key to send Morse code. Fire telegraphic alarms represent an early attempt to automate this process.

Gamewell, Co. “Excelsior” model street-side fire alarm boxes were installed at strategic public access locations throughout the City, and by 1933, twenty-one such boxes were in service. Next to the box was a small case with a glass front. When a fire was detected, one would break the glass and remove a key to open the box. Inside the box was a small lever one pulled, which lifted an iron weight. This weight furnished the energy that turned a number of gears. The gears turned a small cog with raised points acting as a telegraph key sending out a coded signal down the wire to the downtown firehouse.

A Gamewell Co. “indicator unit” and “code-wheel transmitter” was also installed in the downtown firehouse. Once an alarm box signal was received, the indicator box used the signal in different ways. First, it rang the attached 14-inch brass bell in a timed pattern. Second, this signal was decoded and the specific alarm box number was displayed clearly on the front of the indicator unit. Lastly, the decoded signal was sent to a “Paper Tape” unit to record the code number. Firefighters arriving at the fire hall after the bell had stopped, only had to look at the indicator, check the number, and rush off to the location of the fire.

Without telephone or radio to inform the volunteer firefighters of the location of the fire, only the firefighters at the fire station knew of the location. The fire bell at the Bell Tower was thus used to sound the alarm all over town.  It is believed that use of the bell tower stopped shortly before 1950 at a time when most households were equipped with a telephone.

The next big advance in emergency communication came during the term of Sheriff Robert Hansen who served from 1959 until 1978.  Hansen was the last Sheriff to reside in the Courthouse and is credited with establishing the first 24 hour telephone dispatch center in the basement of the courthouse.    In 1986 the Sheriff’s office moved to Port Hadlock and the dispatch center was in the jail control room.  Dispatchers in those days often performed double duty as communication and correction officers.   In the 1990’s  while still housed in the jail control room dispatchers Began to use a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. 

JEFFCOM Occupies New 911 Center  

The move out of the jail control room into the new dispatch center was completed on November 30, 2004. Each position features ergonomic furniture that allows communications officers to work while sitting or standing. There are environmental settings for station personal comfort, including desk lamps, foot heaters and fans.

A welcome change from the cramped confines of the previous location is the natural light filtering in through four windows fitted with ballistic glass.  Radio and computer equipment used by JeffCom was moved into a new secure room to serve the computer aided dispatch system communications officers use to track the activities of field units.   

For police, fire or ambulance call 911
Traffic questions? Please dial 511 on your cell phone, not 911.  
For information please dial 411 not 911
 Cell Phone service questions?  please dial 611  not 911

JEFFCOM911.ORG