Calling 911...have you ever done it?

Options
17891113

Replies

  • Mustang_Susie
    Mustang_Susie Posts: 7,045 Member
    Options
    I don't call 911, I get dispatched to the places where 911 is called about along with the FD and paramedics. Of course, I get there first because FD and medics like to "stage" because they are skeered of hoodlums in the area I patrol, but that's beside the point.

    Staging is policy.
    They have no way to defend themselves, unless they're TEMS.
  • londonboyben
    londonboyben Posts: 314 Member
    Options
    that's a bit weird, never actually thought about it until this thread, but really surprised that i have never actually had to call 999,
    obviously not adding very much to this thread but...
  • misterwah
    misterwah Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    In this neighbourhood? A couple times/month. Yeehaw.

    But god damn, there are some sad stories in here.
  • super_J73
    super_J73 Posts: 257 Member
    Options
    Yes, a guy in our old neighbourhood fell off a ladder, broke his leg...the bone was sticking out of his skin..pretty gross.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Options
    yeah.. my mom has had two strokes.

    oh, 3 times! I almost forgot, I called it once because I was on the highway and drove by a huge, raging grass fire.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    Options
    I have reoccurring theme in my dreams of calling 911 and getting put on hold.


    You're getting put on hold due to the high volume of prank calls...:frown:

    Ha! :drinker:

    Prankster in my dreams messing up my emergency calls?? So not nice of them!
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Options

    LOL, it's all gooooooood! I see what you mean though, I did mention prank calls, which is also what you mentioned, but I was just referring to people who think 911 is a joke (not saying that poster thinks that, referring to the song artist) are usually the ones calling and pranking or calling and screaming like wild animals cause they REALLY do need help. Anywho, this thread has taken a drastic turn away from the original topic. Let's all just but it behind us, gather around a fire, and make some s'mores!!
    :drinker: :bigsmile: :tongue:


    NO, JUST SAY NO TO S'MORES. S'MORE MADE ME FAT.

    OH NOES!!! CALL 911!!! (KIDDING!) lol
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Options
    I'm curious though... to some of the people here who work, or have worked 911, what are some of the stupid calls you've gotten? That could probably be a whole new thread. lol
  • Beckboo0912
    Beckboo0912 Posts: 447 Member
    Options
    Twice...my brother having an allergic reaction (scary crap) and an older gentleman having a heart attack.
  • JDMarlowe
    JDMarlowe Posts: 327 Member
    Options
    I'm curious though... to some of the people here who work, or have worked 911, what are some of the stupid calls you've gotten? That could probably be a whole new thread. lol

    --About 3 months ago, I took a call from a woman who was very pissed off at her neighbors because they wouldn't control their mosquitos therefore the caller could not enjoy their backyard..... While I am taking this call, my co-worker is taking a call for an active domestic with weapons and injury.
    --Then you have the people who call 911 because their 9 year old wont go to school.
    --Then there are those who call 911 because there is a car on the side of the road with the hood up and someone standing beside the car and that looks "suspicious" to the caller...
    --Then you have the calls where a man or woman just came home and has found their loved one dead on the floor.
    --Or a parent driving down the road and has to pull over because their child is now having a seizure and they are freaking out.
    --Or the patient who calls at 6pm on a Friday (after all doctors offices have closed) because of a tooth ache they have had for 4 days now and "can no longer stand the pain"
    --Then there are the calls where the neighbors dog has attacked their child.
    --The call of some partiers on a boat when 2 of them fall off the boat and are found about 12 hours later at the bottom of the lake.
    --Or hearing a man get stabbed and listen to him struggle to breathe, then start gasping, you hear the sirens in the background, but its midnight so nobody can see the man laying in the field bleeding to death, then you hear him take his last breath, yet still hear the sirens/help so close yet they cant find him.
    --Talking to your coworkers family member who just killed their spouse, then kills himself while on the phone with you.

    All these calls are REAL. They have happened in MY dispatch center!

    There are no routine calls, no "normal days at the office". We have to switch from comforting one caller who is starting at their dead loved one on the floor to having to talk the suicidal caller into putting the gun down. Then to a 4 year old playing on a old cell phone the parent gave them without taking the battery out so they call 911 over 45 times and you have to try to convince the child to take the phone to an adult and then explain to the parent that even disconnected cell phones still call 911.
    It's not a joke. It's somebodies life, somebodies loved one. Some calls are total BS but some are life and death. We do a lot more than answer a phone line and tell the fire dept, police, and EMS where to go. What dispatchers do is VERY under appreciated and almost always overlooked. It's not a job you do to get attention, be named a hero, or be the shining star because there is very little recognition.
    HUGE THANKS to all those who support what we do and appreciate the hardships we go through to assist in our fellow citizens safety.
    :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:
  • nblais06
    nblais06 Posts: 376 Member
    Options
    I have called a couple times. One for a friend having a seizure and one when my son decided to turn blue on me and stop breathing. They are very helpful and calm on the other line its nice to hear when your in a panic.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    Options
    Once, when a power line fell into a crowd at a street festival in Iowa. Sucked, because they had trouble with my accent. I think they thought I was pranking.
  • snazzyjazzy21
    snazzyjazzy21 Posts: 1,298 Member
    Options
    Yep, my flat mate vomited then stopped breathing. The lady on the line told me to calm down, it didn't help. But at least my flat mate didn't die, so that's a plus.

    Another time I called because a drunk person passed out in the middle of the main highway at 2am aka the time I almost ran over someone.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Options
    I'm curious though... to some of the people here who work, or have worked 911, what are some of the stupid calls you've gotten? That could probably be a whole new thread. lol

    --About 3 months ago, I took a call from a woman who was very pissed off at her neighbors because they wouldn't control their mosquitos therefore the caller could not enjoy their backyard..... While I am taking this call, my co-worker is taking a call for an active domestic with weapons and injury.
    --Then you have the people who call 911 because their 9 year old wont go to school.
    --Then there are those who call 911 because there is a car on the side of the road with the hood up and someone standing beside the car and that looks "suspicious" to the caller...
    --Then you have the calls where a man or woman just came home and has found their loved one dead on the floor.
    --Or a parent driving down the road and has to pull over because their child is now having a seizure and they are freaking out.
    --Or the patient who calls at 6pm on a Friday (after all doctors offices have closed) because of a tooth ache they have had for 4 days now and "can no longer stand the pain"
    --Then there are the calls where the neighbors dog has attacked their child.
    --The call of some partiers on a boat when 2 of them fall off the boat and are found about 12 hours later at the bottom of the lake.
    --Or hearing a man get stabbed and listen to him struggle to breathe, then start gasping, you hear the sirens in the background, but its midnight so nobody can see the man laying in the field bleeding to death, then you hear him take his last breath, yet still hear the sirens/help so close yet they cant find him.
    --Talking to your coworkers family member who just killed their spouse, then kills himself while on the phone with you.

    All these calls are REAL. They have happened in MY dispatch center!

    There are no routine calls, no "normal days at the office". We have to switch from comforting one caller who is starting at their dead loved one on the floor to having to talk the suicidal caller into putting the gun down. Then to a 4 year old playing on a old cell phone the parent gave them without taking the battery out so they call 911 over 45 times and you have to try to convince the child to take the phone to an adult and then explain to the parent that even disconnected cell phones still call 911.
    It's not a joke. It's somebodies life, somebodies loved one. Some calls are total BS but some are life and death. We do a lot more than answer a phone line and tell the fire dept, police, and EMS where to go. What dispatchers do is VERY under appreciated and almost always overlooked. It's not a job you do to get attention, be named a hero, or be the shining star because there is very little recognition.
    HUGE THANKS to all those who support what we do and appreciate the hardships we go through to assist in our fellow citizens safety.
    :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

    I know there's a lot of scary emergencies, and I don't know how you guys stay so calm because I don't think I could.. and I know there's stupid stuff.. like people calling because they went through the drive through and got shorted a couple mcnuggets. I think I read about that one on a news site somewhere. I think I like hearing about the stupid stories even though those people are a blight on humanity in real life.
    I guess marveling how people could be SO f#cking stupid as to call for some of the things they do, takes my mind off how horrible all the real calls no doubt are.
  • LorahJo
    LorahJo Posts: 151 Member
    Options
    I dialled 911 when I saw 3 guys breaking into the house next door ... until i realised I lived in the UK and had to redial 999!
  • _KrisMarie_
    Options
    Many times! I live in Albuquerque, ya know, where they were filming Breaking Bad, and the actor said he couldn't wait to get back to L.A. because it was safer, lol.

    Mostly I've called non-emergency for people acting inappropriately, being drunk in public and doing foolish things, but I also called the police when my car was stolen, and another time when I was in my former apartment alone and some guy was standing outside the window at 2 AM. It can get a little sketchy here, but I still love New Mexico. The good definitely outweighs the bad. :smile:
  • JDMarlowe
    JDMarlowe Posts: 327 Member
    Options
    I'm curious though... to some of the people here who work, or have worked 911, what are some of the stupid calls you've gotten? That could probably be a whole new thread. lol

    --About 3 months ago, I took a call from a woman who was very pissed off at her neighbors because they wouldn't control their mosquitos therefore the caller could not enjoy their backyard..... While I am taking this call, my co-worker is taking a call for an active domestic with weapons and injury.
    --Then you have the people who call 911 because their 9 year old wont go to school.
    --Then there are those who call 911 because there is a car on the side of the road with the hood up and someone standing beside the car and that looks "suspicious" to the caller...
    --Then you have the calls where a man or woman just came home and has found their loved one dead on the floor.
    --Or a parent driving down the road and has to pull over because their child is now having a seizure and they are freaking out.
    --Or the patient who calls at 6pm on a Friday (after all doctors offices have closed) because of a tooth ache they have had for 4 days now and "can no longer stand the pain"
    --Then there are the calls where the neighbors dog has attacked their child.
    --The call of some partiers on a boat when 2 of them fall off the boat and are found about 12 hours later at the bottom of the lake.
    --Or hearing a man get stabbed and listen to him struggle to breathe, then start gasping, you hear the sirens in the background, but its midnight so nobody can see the man laying in the field bleeding to death, then you hear him take his last breath, yet still hear the sirens/help so close yet they cant find him.
    --Talking to your coworkers family member who just killed their spouse, then kills himself while on the phone with you.

    All these calls are REAL. They have happened in MY dispatch center!

    There are no routine calls, no "normal days at the office". We have to switch from comforting one caller who is starting at their dead loved one on the floor to having to talk the suicidal caller into putting the gun down. Then to a 4 year old playing on a old cell phone the parent gave them without taking the battery out so they call 911 over 45 times and you have to try to convince the child to take the phone to an adult and then explain to the parent that even disconnected cell phones still call 911.
    It's not a joke. It's somebodies life, somebodies loved one. Some calls are total BS but some are life and death. We do a lot more than answer a phone line and tell the fire dept, police, and EMS where to go. What dispatchers do is VERY under appreciated and almost always overlooked. It's not a job you do to get attention, be named a hero, or be the shining star because there is very little recognition.
    HUGE THANKS to all those who support what we do and appreciate the hardships we go through to assist in our fellow citizens safety.
    :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

    I know there's a lot of scary emergencies, and I don't know how you guys stay so calm because I don't think I could.. and I know there's stupid stuff.. like people calling because they went through the drive through and got shorted a couple mcnuggets. I think I read about that one on a news site somewhere. I think I like hearing about the stupid stories even though those people are a blight on humanity in real life.
    I guess marveling how people could be SO f#cking stupid as to call for some of the things they do, takes my mind off how horrible all the real calls no doubt are.

    You're very right!! The one time we DO welcome the stupid calls is after taking a bad call. Anything to get the mind off the bad that we just listened to. That's when most of us don't mind them, lol.
  • MagicalLeopleurodon
    Options
    No.

    Ambulances are 20 minutes from me, and then 50 minutes to the ER. we just drive ourselves.

    The cops here are a joke. Im protected by castle law. Snoop in my yard, you get a severe case of lead poisoning.

    911 in an area as remote as mine only exists because it has to, but i dont know anyone who uses it.
  • mag131
    mag131 Posts: 542 Member
    Options
    Twice. The first time was several years ago when a friend and her mom were having a rather rough physical altercation.

    The second time was about a year ago when I saw a guy so drunk that he fell down in the parking lot a couple of times before getting into and starting his car.