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Marc Giauque ReportingIt won't be in time for this season, but Summit County hopes to soon have an enhanced 911 system in place that will allow dispatchers to pinpoint the location of a cell phone.
All dispatch centers will eventually be required to have the system, but having it in Summit County doesn't necessarily mean it will work everywhere.
Jan Heisi lives in Samak, she has a cell phone, but getting a signal? "It's impossible."
If they absolutely have to, she says, her neighbors will travel to find one.
"They climb the highest peak or they drive up the highest road to get another bar."
Heisi lives at one of the gateways to the High Uintas, where people often go to get away from civilization, including the omnipresent cell phones.
"But usually, people usually somewhere have a cell phone nearby."
And Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dave Booth says when people get into trouble they often try to use it, no matter where they are.
"The sad thing is we have had people call in and the call has been placed and it's made it through to our communication center, but we haven't been able to communicate before that service ended."
Booth says during operations in the mountains, they often have to bring portable equipment in; something more permanent isn't likely, at least for now.
"Where the problem is, to really make it work you would have to put up hundreds of cell sites. There's environmental groups want that, it's expensive, it's not feasible to do that."
Even in less remote areas, along Interstate 80, Booth says there are pockets of no service. But in spite of limitations, he sees the enhanced 9-1-1 system as a big benefit.
"This new system will enable us to help track those people wherever they're at. Whether they are calling from the mountains, or whether they're calling I-80 or whether they're calling from Park City or any other cities within our county."
Even where the signal is strong, Booth is seeing a trend.
"Probably forty percent of the calls that come through our communication center are cell phone callers."
Booth hopes the system will be up and running by the end of the summer.
