Wicked Local
FOXBOROUGH – Built in 1960 to transmit telephone and television signals nationwide, the High Rock site surrounded by conservation land is now home to a state-of-the art emergency communication center.
The large, long-vacant cement building in Foxborough was recently transformed into the new $8.7 million Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communication Center (SEMRECC). The center provides emergency dispatching for the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District. The district, formed in 2017, includes Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield and Norton. The four towns created a regional district to improve service and cut costs.
State and local officials, police, firefighters and SEMRECC staff gathered April 16 to celebrate the center’s completion.
New regional dispatch center handles 911 calls for four towns
Wicked Local
FOXBOROUGH – Built in 1960 to transmit telephone and television signals nationwide, the High Rock site surrounded by conservation land is now home to a state-of-the art emergency communication center.
The large, long-vacant cement building in Foxborough was recently transformed into the new $8.7 million Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communication Center (SEMRECC). The center provides emergency dispatching for the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional 911 District. The district, formed in 2017, includes Easton, Foxborough, Mansfield and Norton. The four towns created a regional district to improve service and cut costs.
State and local officials, police, firefighters and SEMRECC staff gathered April 16 to celebrate the center’s completion.
Grants from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and the State 911 Department covered the cost to construct the regional dispatch center in a long vacant building at the High Rock conservation area in Foxboro as well as the center’s technology. The funding comes from surcharges on phone bills.
The building, with its own tower, sits on six acres surrounded by state forest. It was built in 1960 as part of AT&T Long Lines to transmit telephone and television signals nationwide. It also aided Department of Defense communications and was built to withstand a nuclear blast. High Rock’s AT&T facility closed in 2003 and it was sold to American Tower Company which used the tower, but left the building vacant.
FOXBORO â Emergency 911 calls to the Norton and Easton police and fire departments are now being handled by dispatchers at the new Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center.
Norton police and fire departments joined the regional dispatch center last week and Easton Police Chief Gary Sullivan and Fire Chief Kevin Partridge announced the transfer of their departments Tuesday.
Norton police and fire officials emphasized that residents should call 911 for all emergency calls.
Business calls for matters such as fire inspections or firearms licenses are still being handled through the townâs business line.
The new regional dispatch center in the F. Gilbert Hills State Forest, which also includes the Mansfield and Foxboro police and fire departments, opened four weeks ago.
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Easton s emergency dispatch services moved to the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center on Tuesday. (Shutterstock)
EASTON, MA Easton Police and Fire Departments announced on Tuesday that the town s 911 dispatch services will now be provided by the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center (SEMRECC).
SEMRECC, located in a Cold War-era building at 100 High Rock Road in Foxboro, will handle all emergency calls and texts from Foxborough, Mansfield, Easton, and Norton, using enhanced technology that has the ability to pinpoint a caller s exact location, said a press release from Easton Fire Department. Our transition from an in-house dispatch service to a regional center is a move that should ultimately shorten the Easton Police and Fire Departments emergency response time, said Easton Police Chief Gary Sullivan in a statement. With the center s up-to-date communication capabilities and technology, our quality of wor