As the author of this article, I know it's kind of trivial compared to what the EMS Live site is all about. I for one however find it very interesting how the telephone number 911 was started. I did a bit of research and bring just a tid bit of this to you as the reader of the many great articles EMS Live brings to you. I hope you enjoy this article. It's not a real informational article just a bit of a fun article to review.

Before I start this article, I personally feel we should tip our hats to the people that came up with the concept of the 911 telephone number. Although we have all known the 911 number as routine in our line of work, the 911 telephone number was a brilliant idea.

Did you ever wonder how the telephone number was established for emergencies? If you answered yes, heres how! Even if you never did wonder how the 911 number began, this is an interesting article to read. I know this article is really of no importance for EMT's, paramedics, nurses, police or fire professionals but it is an interesting fact and we should pay our thanks to those who established and worked hard to start the 911 system we as individuals depend on today.

Who Designed and Installed The First US 911 System?
B.W. (Bob) Gallagher
President of the Alabama Telephone Company a subsidiary of Continental Telephone. Initiated and directed the overall 911 effort.
Robert (Bob) Fitzgerald
Inside State Plant Manager. Designed and engineered the needed circuitry for the first U.S. 911 system.
Jimmy White
Technician on 911 installation team.
Glenn Johnston
Technician on 911installation team.
Al Bush
Technician on 911 installation team.
Pete Gosa
Technician on 911 installation team.

"The race to be first will always be part of human nature as long as a bridge remains to be crossed, mountains to be climbed, or a telephone exchange to be cut-over, with a team working together as Alabama Telephone had."

The ability to dial a single number to report emergencies was first used in Great Britain, in 1937. The British could dial 999 to call for police, medical or fire departments, from anywhere in the country. In 1958, the American Congress first investigated a universal emergency number for the United States and finally passed the legal mandate in 1967. The very first American 911 call was placed on February 16, 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama made by Alabama Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite and answered by Congressman Tom Bevill.

The new emergency number had to be three numbers that were not in use in the United States or Canada as the first three numbers of any phone number or area code, and the numbers had to be easy to use. The Federal Trade Commission along with AT&T (which held a monopoly on phone services at that time) originally announced the plans to build the first 911 system in Huntington, Indiana. Bob Gallagher, President of the Alabama Telephone, was annoyed that the independent phone industry had not been consulted. Gallagher decided to beat AT&T to the punch line and have the first 911 emergency service built in Haleyville, Alabama.

Gallagher consulted with Bob Fitzgerald, his state inside-plant manager. Fitzgerald let Gallagher know that he could do it. Gallagher moved quickly getting approvals from Continental Telephone and the Alabama Public Service commissioner, and releasing a press release on February 9 announcing that the Alabama Telephone Company would be making history.

Fitzgerald examined all twenty-seven Alabama exchanges choosing the Haleyville location, and then engineered the new circuitry and made the modifications needed for the existing equipment. Fitzgerald and his team worked around the clock to install the first 911 emergency system in under one week. The team worked their regular day jobs in Fayette, traveling each night to Haleyville to do the 911 work during off-peak hours. The work was completed on February 16, 1968, at exactly 2 p.m. celebrated with a team cheer of "Bingo!"

Hats off to these guys, without them, would we have the 911 the system we have today? Well maybe, but one would never know! These guys deserve a huge round of applause and graditude from all citizens of the USA.

Phillip Sampson
EMS Prime
emsprime.com