The state’s first two-county consolidated 911 dispatch center launched this week, serving Ashland and Bayfield counties. The new consolidated center, the Ashland-Bayfield County Emergency Communications Center, is in Washburn. Work on the consolidation project started in 2002 and really took shape in 2022, thanks to extensive collaboration and securing of grant funding for the center. The center employes state of the art technology to ensure the fastest most accurate responses in both counties. The functions of the center are overseen by the Ashland-Bayfield PublicSafetyAnsweringPoint Board of Supervisors. Some $2 million in grant funding for the project was made possible by the State of Wisconsin Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Grant Program, which is administered by the Department of Military Affairs/Office of Emergency Communications.