The Off Duty Network - Public Safety Education

Dialing 9-1-1

  1. Remain Calm

  2. You must tell the 9-1-1 operator the following:

  3. Listen to the 9-1-1 operator

Use 9-1-1 only for emergencies

If you do not have an emergency, dial the regular phone number for the police or fire department.  Keep these numbers posted by your phone.  If you do not have these numbers handy, call 9-1-1.  The operator will transfer your call.

 

Remember: 9-1-1 calls are free from most pay phones.  Or dial "O" and ask for 9-1-1.

 

This information is supplied as a public service, using information gathered from many sources.

 

Fire Safety Vol. 1  3/07           Police Safety Vol. 1  3/07          Child Safety Vol.1 3/07

Fire safety Vol. 2  3/08                                                                 Child Safety Vol. 2 5/07

                                                                                                          Child Safety Vol. 3 3/08

 

 

 

To learn more and receive some insight on those that work in Public Safety visit the "on the job" page.

New information added 3-5-08

 

 

BECAUSE WE CARE

Sorry if we wake you
in the middle of the night
but someone in your neighborhood
is fighting for his life.

Sorry if we blocked the road
and made you turn around
but there's been a bad wreck
with injured people on the ground.

When you see us coming
we hope you'll understand
Let us have the right of way
someone needs our helping hand.

Sometimes a child is choking.

Sometimes a broken leg.

Sometimes a heart stops beating
if we don't arrive soon it may be too late.

So if you see us crying
when we think that we're alone.

You know we had a "bad" one
and we're feeling rather low.

We don't do it for the money.

You know it's not for the pay.

We don't do it for the glory
but for a life that might be saved.

Somewhere deep within us
our souls are crying out.

We're here to help our neighbors
in their hour of pain and doubt.

God gave us something special
to help us see you through.

We do it because we love you
and care about you too

 

If you only knew...

 

I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 6 in the morning as I check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway, hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late. But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible was done to try and save his life

 
I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear, the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too familiar with.


I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a call, is this another false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?" Or to call and ask what is wrong with the patient? Is it minor or life threatening? Is the caller really in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun?


I wish you could be in the emergency room, as a doctor pronounces dead, the beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the past 25 minutes, knowing she will never go on her first date or say the words, "I love you Mommy", ever again.


I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the ambulance or engine or cruiser, the driver with his foot pressing down hard on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you fail to yield the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic. When you need us however, your first comment upon our arrival will be, "It took you forever to get here!"


I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage years from the remains of her automobile. What if this was my daughter, sister, my girlfriend or a friend? What were her parents reactions going to be when they opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?


I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did not come back from the last call.


I wish you could know how it feels when we dispatch officers, firefighters and Paramedics out to a call, and when we call for them on the radio and our heart drops because no one answers us back. Or to hear a bone chilling 911 call from a child or wife needing assistance for your co-worker.


I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally and sometimes physically abuse us or belittle what we do, or as they express their attitudes of "It will never happen to me". I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain of missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all the tragedy our eyes have seen.


I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.


I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy tugging at your arm and asking, "Is my Mommy okay?"!, not even being able to look in his eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say. Or to have to hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having CPR done on him as they take him away in the Medic Unit. You know all along that he did not have his seat belt on, a sensation that I have become too familiar with.

 
Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to us...though I wish you could.