Madison County introduces new 911 call center director Chris Alquiza
MARSHALL - Madison County's Emergency Services department is undergoing a significant makeover.
Part of that makeover entails bringing in a new 911 call center director, Chris Alquiza, who the county hired in June.
Alquiza has 12 years experience in emergency services. He started as a volunteer with Transylvania County Rescue Squad and eventually worked his way up to the deputy chief position. Alquiza currently serves as the deputy chief.
He worked eight years for the Transylvania County's 911 team, where he started as a part-time dispatcher and worked his way up to a shift supervisor role.
Prior to being named the Madison County 911 director, Alquiza worked for Buncombe County's Health and Human Services department as an emergency management specialist, assisting the county with COVID grant funding.
Alquiza, 29, a Long Island, New York, native, earned an emergency management and homeland security degree from Waldorf University.
Alquiza said he has pinpointed a number of objectives for his new job.
"We want to maintain adequate staffing for our center, and make sure our 911 dispatchers are certified and trained to the highest level," Alquiza said. "We're going to follow strong protocol-based dispatching, and work with all our agencies, fire departments, EMS, Sheriff's Office to make sure we have a comprehensive and solid emergency services plan to best benefit our citizens in Madison County."
In 2022, the county was awarded $224,148 by the 2023 PSAP Grant from the North Carolina 911 Board to address upgrades to its 911 radio network.
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The grant will help to pay for four Motorola MCC 7500E (IP) Dispatch consoles.
In bringing on Alquiza, the county has merged its emergency operations center and the Sheriff's Office 911 dispatch duties into one department, the 911 call center department.
"We're the primary PSAP — a public safety answering point — for the county," Alquiza said. "This means all the 911 calls come here, and then from there we do all the dispatching for Madison County. So, we're an all inclusive emergency service dispatch point for the entire county.
"We do Hot Springs PD, Marshall PD, Mars Hill PD, the Sheriff's Office, Madison Medics — which is our EMS service — and then all nine of the fire departments. So everything's housed here, under one roof, for dispatch."
Alquiza said he's hopeful the new equipment will help shore up some of these emergency management communication issues.
"I have a great staff who does a great job," Alquiza said. "We're just filling some holes now with them, and they do a great job of keeping our citizens safe."
According to Alquiza, the consoles should be integrated into the new system by Sept. 1.
When he isn't volunteering with the Transylvania County Rescue Squad, Alquiza said he enjoys outdoors activities such as camping and fishing and spending time with his family.
Alquiza and his wife, Ashleigh, have been married since 2016. The couple and their 2-year-old son Jaden live in Brevard.
The new 911 director said while the staff has been helpful and welcoming, so too has the Madison community as a whole.
"Everyone's been super awesome to me, and welcomed me with open arms here," Alquiza said. "I look forward to continue to get to know people and working with everybody that I can to build those relationships."
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison County introduces new 911 call center director Chris Alquiza
