How do Firefighters know when there is a fire?

Your call to 911 goes directly to the Centre County Emergency Communications Center in Bellefonte. From that location, radio tones are sent out to activate the pagers worn by the individual firefighters. Once the tone opens the pager and the dispatcher’s voice announcement follows giving the nature and location of the emergency. Firefighters not already in a station respond to the nearest firehouse to staff apparatus and respond as needed.

In Centre County, paging is also supplemented by text to personal mobile phones.