9-1-1
"Emergency 911" displayed on the side of an
emergency vehicle, indicating that 9-1-1 is
the number to dial in the event of an
emergency.
9-1-1 (usually pronounced "nine-one-one") is
the emergency telephone number for the
North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It
is one of eight N11 codes. In some jurisdic-
tions, the use of this number is reserved for
true emergency circumstances only.[1][2]
History
In the earliest days of telephone technology,
prior to the development of the rotary dial
telephone, all telephone calls were operator-
assisted. To place a call, the caller was re-
quired to pick up the telephone receiver and
wait for the telephone operator to answer
with "Number please?" The caller would then
ask to be connected to the number he or she
wished to call, and the operator would make
the required connection manually, by means
of a switchboard. In an emergency, the caller
might simply say "Get me the police", "I want
to report a fire", or "I need an ambulance/
doctor". It was usually not necessary to ask
for any of these services by number, even in
a large city. Indeed, until the ability to dial a
phone number came into widespread use in
the 1950s (it had existed in limited form
since the 1920s), telephone users could not
place calls without operator assistance.[3]
During the period when an operator was al-
ways involved in placing a phone call, the op-
erator instantly knew the calling party’s num-
ber, even if the caller couldn’t stay on the
line, by simply looking at the number above
the line jack of the calling party. In smaller
centres, telephone operators frequently went
the extra mile by making sure they knew the
locations of local doctors, vets, law enforce-
ment personnel, and even private citizens
who were willing or able to help in an emer-
gency. Frequently, the operator would activ-
ate the town’s fire alarm, and acted as an in-
formational clearinghouse when an emer-
gency such as a fire occurred. When North
American cities and towns began to convert
to rotary dial or, "automatic" telep