A fire has started and is out of control. A burglary, an assault, or a crime is in progress. There has been a car crash or other accident. Someone is seriously injured (bleeding severely, in shock, etc. ). Someone has suffered a medical emergency (like a heart attack, stroke, or seizure).
911 works in the US and Canada. If you are in another location, you will need to call a different emergency number. In Australia, dialing 911 will redirect your call to 000. In the United Kingdom it is 999. Text capabilities are growing, but still severely limited. If you need to contact 911, you should still place a call rather than text. If you ordinarily use special access services (like TTY) with your phone, contact your service provider for information about the best way to contact 911 in an emergency.
Your address or other details about your location Your phone number A description of what happened Clarification about who needs help (you, someone you are with, or a stranger) Details of the problem (e. g. , whether or not an injured person is unconscious or bleeding) Whether you are safe or still in danger
Giving first aid Performing CPR Moving to a safer location
Just generally telling the crowd to call 911 will probably not work, due to the “bystander effect. ” This means that people will assume that someone else is making the call, and they don’t have to. Delegating the call to someone specific will snap them into action.
The power is out (get in touch with the power company instead) A fire hydrant is broken (call a fire station’s non-emergency number) A pipe has burst (call a plumber or water company) When you need a ride to a doctor for an appointment (call them first and ask about transportation options) Pet problems (contact a vet instead) As a prank or just to see what happens
If you have children, it is also a good idea to make contact information for parents or guardians and their workplaces available. Depending on your situation, it may also be useful to have numbers for things like suicide prevention, addiction recovery, mental health care, or other services that you may need.
You can label a card (“In Case of Emergency, Contact”), write down the information for your contact, and then place the card in your wallet. You can also store the information in your phone. If you usually lock your phone, you can save a screenshot of the ICE information and use it as the picture for your lock screen. That way, responders can still access it.
