9-1-1 friday fun

You know the emergency number.  But how did it BECOME the emergency number?

Here's a fun article from gizmodo about how 911 became our national emergency line.

In the meantime, some facts:

• The first call to 911 in the United States: Haleyville, Alabama on February 16, 1968. The person who placed the call was Senator Rankin Fite.
• Nome, Alaska, established the country’s second 9-1-1 emergency system only a few weeks after Haleyville
• Great Britain was the first country to establish a universal emergency number (999) in 1937
• An estimated 200 million calls are made to 9-1-1 in the U.S. each year.
• 99% of the population is covered with 9-1-1 service

9-1-1 calls should be reserved for true emergencies.  Otherwise, you might end up here or here.

<- or here.