It will take years, money and people to modernize Orange County’s emergency services.

A two-part, $28,000 study says implementing the draft EMS/911 assessment over the next 10 years could cost more than $15.6 million in capital, one-time and operating costs.

“This has festered for number of years. It didn’t happen overnight,” consultant Steve Allen, of Solutions for Local Government, told the county commissioners Thursday.

The county system is 20 years old, and the population is aging and growing; 911 calls could number about 15,000 by 2032, he said.

Allen and the county’s EMS services workgroup identified 19 short- and long-term steps to improve response times, technology, staffing, data, training and planning.

The study identifies four main issues: ambulance availability, response times, and EMS and 911 facilities and staffing.

Public comment will be included in the revised report.

Look for a story in Sunday’s Chapel Hill News. The study can be found online at www.co.orange.nc.us/OCCLERKS/agenmenu.asp. Click on the Aug. 30 meeting link.

If you have questions or comments, contact Assistant County Manager Michael Talbert at 919-245-2308; mtalbert@co.orange.nc.us; or at 200 S. Cameron St., Hillsborough, NC 27278.

The city of Raleigh activated its Emergency Operations Center at 6 a.m. to respond to Hurricane Irene.

The city also has established a non-emergency call center. The telephone number is 996-2999, and officials say 911 should be called only in instances that require law enforcement, fire or emergency medical assistance.

One of this week's more alarming stories was the account of a 911 phone call in which a man calmly told the dispatcher he'd just shot someone to death. It turns out that the victim was Jaquelyn Larue Gore -- 48-year-old daughter of Jackie Gore, the iconic singer from The Embers and Legends of the Beach.

"We're doing about as well as can be expected," Gore said Thursday afternoon, shortly before his daughter's memorial service. "Just taking it a minute at a time. It's a terrible thing to lose your daughter like that. She would have been 49 in August. We had a great relationship."

The last time Gore saw his daughter was Saturday, the day before her death. He even talked to her on the phone on Sunday, about an hour before the shooting.

"It was a great conversation," Gore said. "Just father and daughter stuff, one thing and another. She was getting ready to watch the NASCAR races."

The Durham 911 center was recently awarded a rare honor for it's in-house training.

The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International, Inc. awarded the center its Project 33 Certification.

Only eight other 911 centers in the world have this distinction.

"This accreditation ensures that our Durham 911 personnel are trained to the highest standards and principles of best practice, while providing the best customer service possible to the people of Durham," Jim Soukup, Durham 911 director, said in a written statement.

Durham 911 is currently in the process of being accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The center was re-accredited as an Emergency Medical Dispatch Center of Excellence, the highest distinction awarded by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch, in 2008.

Having all three accreditations is rare, Soukup said in a recent story about the CALEA process.

Durham 911, with 81 employees, handles about 800 emergency calls a day. Its communication officers, 61 total, also answer about 10,000 non-emergency calls a month.

Six-year-old Grace Downen of Cary received an "I Know What To Do" award from the Town of Cary for calling 911 when her mother, Jenniger Downen, was ... more

Hear audio of a 911 call made by Harish Patel.