| In this article we're going to discuss the people | | | | the first 911 system in Huntington, Indiana. The President |
| responsible for what is now our emergency call | | | | of Alabama Telephone, a man by the name of Bob |
| system known as 911.Actually, the first system in being | | | | Gallagher, was annoyed that the independent phone |
| to dial in case of emergency was used in Great Britain | | | | industry had not been informed of this decision and |
| in 1937. In Great Britain the citizens there could dial 999 | | | | consulted as to their thoughts so he decided to get the |
| to either call for the police, medical assistance or the | | | | jump on AT&T and built the first emergency service in |
| fire department in case of fire. This could be done | | | | Haleyville, Alabama.Gallagher got together with his |
| from anywhere in the country by anyone owning or | | | | state inside plant manager, Bob Fitzgerald, who told |
| leasing a standard telephone. No special equipment | | | | Gallagher that he could go ahead with his plans. |
| was needed. It wasn't until 1958 that the American | | | | Gallagher then quickly went to get approval from |
| Congress first investigated the possibility of a universal | | | | Continental Telephone and the commissioner of |
| emergency number for the United States. Finally, in | | | | Alabama Public Service and then put out a press |
| 1967, a legal mandate for this action was passed.The | | | | release on February 9 to announce that the Alabama |
| very first 911 call placed in the United States was on | | | | phone company would be making history.Fitzgerald |
| February 16, 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama made by the | | | | went ahead and looked at all 27 Alabama exchanges |
| Alabama speaker of the house Rankin Fite. The call | | | | and chose the Haleyville location. He then engineered |
| was answered by Congressman Tom Bevill. There | | | | new circuitry and made the necessary modifications |
| was no actual emergency. The call was simply done | | | | needed for the existing equipment. Fitzgerald and his |
| as a test of the system itself.The difficulty in instituting | | | | whole team worked around the clock and got the new |
| the system was that the three numbers had to be | | | | 911 system up and running in under a week. The team |
| three numbers that were not in use anywhere in the | | | | was actually doing double duty at the time, working |
| United States, neither as the first three digits of a | | | | their regular day jobs and then traveling to Haleyville at |
| phone number, nor as any of the individual states' area | | | | night to complete the project. They did this at off peak |
| codes. This had to also be true for all phone numbers | | | | hours so as not to interfere with normal operations. |
| in Canada as well. On top of that, the numbers had to | | | | The project was completed on February 16, 1968 at |
| be easy to use and remember. The Federal Trade | | | | exactly 2 PM.Eye witness accounts of the event say |
| Commission (FTC) along with American Telephone | | | | that when the work was finally completed the whole |
| And Telegraph (AT&T), which had a monopoly on | | | | work team shouted, in unison, "Bingo!". |
| phone services at the time, announced plans to build | | | | |