Public Safety Communications (911)

Buncombe County’s Public Safety Communications Center is the central answering point for public safety agencies within our County. In 2021, the Board of Commissioners approved an agreement consolidating 911 services for the City of Asheville and Buncombe County. With this consolidation, the County dispatches for the City of Asheville Fire and Police Departments.

By the numbers:

In 2021, Public Safety Communications received 186,985 911 calls and dispatched 273,111 incidents
Our department has 76 employees

Answer the Call & Make a Difference: Public Safety Communications (911) is Hiring

Public records and media requests

All public records requests must be made through our request center
If you need help with your request or would like to schedule a media interview, please contact our Communications and Public Engagement Department

911 SHOULD ONLY BE USED FOR EMERGENCIES

When you dial 911, your call is received by a trained communications specialist who takes your information and dispatches the appropriate police, fire, and/or medical services team located in your area.

When using 911, remain calm and speak clearly. Tell the dispatcher what is happening, where the incident is occurring, your name, address, and phone number. Remain on the phone to provide additional information as needed.
Do not hang up until the dispatcher advises you to do so.

Never Call 911 As A Joke

The equipment we have indicates where the call is coming from. We are required to verify if there is an emergency. If that can't be done, we will send a Law Enforcement Officer out to check.

This could engage an officer's services when they might be needed on a real emergency. Abusing 911 in this manner could cost someone's life. It is a criminal offense to intentionally abuse 911.

Never Call To Ask For Information

Use 411 for directory assistance, and call the non-emergency number for the public safety agency you wish to reach.

Never Call 9-1-1 Just To See If It Works

It does. Calls to 911 from a pay phone are free.

A call to 911 should always be a call for help! Use 911 for life-threatening incidents. These include:

If someone is hurt.
If you see someone taking something that belongs to someone else.
If you see someone hurting someone else.
If you smell smoke or see fire.

Notice: Buncombe County Emergency Responders accept texting as an option for contacting 911.

If at all possible, please call 911 versus texting:

In an emergency, seconds matter, and 911 operators can get more information from you quicker from a voice call than from a texting conversation.
When you first text 9-1-1, they will ask if you can get to a location to make a voice call. If not, continue with the text conversation.

What are some situations that are good for texting 911:

If you are hiding and don't want to give your position away.
If you are in a domestic violence situation and need to discreetly contact first responders or the authorities.
If you have bad cell reception, sometimes it is difficult for calls to go through, but texts still have the ability to send.

If you text 911, what should you know beforehand:

Texting 911 has limited abilities to let first responders know your exact location, so if you text 911, make sure you specify your exact location.
Make sure you specify what kind of emergency it is. Is it a fire? Is it a medical emergency? Do you require law enforcement? Make sure to let them know in the initial text.

Street Addressing

In accordance with County policy and to enable a better emergency response, the addressing office will provide a street address for new construction, for previously existing structures which have not had a physical street address assigned, and for the naming of new roads and private drives. Please call 250-4830 for more information.

Mapping Quicklinks

Geographic Maps

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are essentially the computer applications that allow an organization to relate all of it's data to points, lines or areas upon the earth.