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KF5JRV > TODAY 16.02.90 12:00l 39 Lines 2288 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 8375_KD5TCY
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 16
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<N3HYM<PD0LPM<VE3CGR<KD5TCY
Sent: 260216/1025Z 8375@KD5TCY.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.24
February 16, 1968 sees the first official "911" call placed in the United States. Now taken
for granted as first course of action in the event of emergency by nearly all of the nation's
327 million people, 911 is a relatively recent invention and was still not standard across
the United States for many years after its adoption by Congress.
As telephones became common in U.S. households, fire departments around the country recommended
establishing a single, simple number to be dialed in the event of a fire or other emergency. A
similar system had been implemented in the United Kingdom decades earlier, in 1936, when the
code 999 was chosen for emergency telegraph and phone communications. The Federal Communications
Commission decided to act in 1967, but the number itself came not from the government but from
AT&T, the corporation that controlled nearly all phone lines in the U.S. via its long-distance
service and ownership of local Bell Telephone subsidiaries. At the time, AT&T was considered a
"natural monopoly," a monopoly allowed to exist because high infrastructure costs and barriers
to entry prevented challengers from emerging. AT&T suggested the number 911 because it was easy
to remember and, crucially, had not yet been designated as an area code or other code, which would
make the transition easier.
The first 911 call was placed by Rep. Rankin Fite, the Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives,
in the town of Haleyville, Alabama on February 16th of the following year. Nome, Alaska adopted the
system a week later. Still, it would years before the system was widespread and decades before it was
uniform. It was only in 1973 that the White House issued an official statement in favor of 911, and
even that a suggestion rather than a law or executive order. By 1987, 50 percent of the nation was
using the system.
Canada chose to adopt the same number for its emergency calls, and 98 percent of the U.S. and Canada
can now contact emergency services by dialing 911. In many former British colonies, 999 is in use , and
the number 112 is used in Russia, Brazil and other nations, even sometimes routing to the same services
as 911 in the U.S.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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