How 9-1-1 came to be . . .
Great Britain should be thanked for their ingenuity, they were responsible for the first universal emergency telephone number. Since 1937 any individual in the United Kingdom has been able to dial 999 to receive prompt service for his or her request for assistance and be efficiently directed to the proper agency. Other countries have followed suit with their own emergency numbers: Belgium 900, Denmark 000 and Sweden with 80 000 and Canada who will be using 9-1-1.
In 1958, Congress called for a universal emergency number. For ten years the idea was discussed and even argued over, everyone wanted the right to answer emergency calls and no one seemed to able to agree on one easy to remember emergency number. Finally in January 1968, ideas became reality when American Telephone System and Telegraph Company announced that within its serving areas the digits 9-1-1 were available for installation on a national scale as the single emergency telephone number. One factor that helped resolve this was the location of the digits of 9-1-1 on the telephone and also the telephone company’s equipment could be easily modified to accommodate 9-1-1. One last factor was that 911 had never been authorized as an office code, area code, or service code.
The world’s first 9-1-1 system was introduced in Haleyville, Alabama with the first 9-1-1 call being made on February 16, 1968. AL Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite, made the first call from another city hall room to the police station, where the 9-1-1 system was located. The call was answered by Congressman Tom Bevill on a bright red telephone.
How Dekalb County E 9-1-1 came to be . . .
On the ballot in November 1990, the citizens of Dekalb County were given the right to vote for or against E 9-1-1. The vote was in favor for 9-1-1 and the slow process began. A location was decided, equipment was purchased and all the tedious tasks of setting up a 9-1-1 center were under way. Four short years later, Dekalb County E-9-1-1 was ready to go. In May of 1994 we began taking 9-1-1 test calls, so the residents of Dekalb County could call 9-1-1 to verify their address and also see how 9-1-1 worked. One month later we went live and on June 10th at 5:46am we received our first "real" 9-1-1 emergency call. The call involved a diabetic who needed an ambulance and was answered by Telecommunicator Craig Chandler, who is now a Supervisor. We have answered approximately 100,000 9-1-1 calls since that date.