The Government of Saskatchewan is making some changes to 911 service in the province and it has created a new Crown corporation to oversee it.

On Thursday, the government announced the creation of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency to take care of 911 calls to dispatch services for more than 400 fire departments, provincial ministries with public safety roles, and a cache of emergency equipment.

Growing province demands change

"This new Crown will help meet the needs of our rapidly growing province and current technology demands to ensure we can continue providing excellent emergency communications services for all Saskatchewan residents," said Government Relations Minister Larry Doke.

The new 911 centre will be located near Prince Albert will serve all areas except Regina and Saskatoon. Those cities will keep their own emergency dispatching centres and will report to government through the new Crown corporation.

"This new model is ideally suited to ensure communication services continue to be delivered in the most effective, efficient way possible with our experienced staff," Doke said.

Prior to today's change, the 911 services were handled through a partnership with the City of Prince Albert.

Last year, 911 centres received more than 340,000 calls in Saskatchewan.