How to make a 999 call

Do's and Don'ts for making an emergency call

• Don't be afraid to dial the Fire Brigade if you need us, even if your are not sure if there is a fire or not - you do not have to pay for the services of the fire brigade.
  
• Don't think" I better not dial it's probably nothing". It is better to be safe than sorry.
  
• Don't attempt to contact your local fire station or the numbers listed in the telephone directory, they cannot mobilise fire appliances without authority from our control room.
  
• Don't think that someone else must have already rung for the Fire Brigade, we would rather receive several calls to a fire than none at all.
  
• Do dial 999, and ask for the Fire Brigade no matter how small the fire is because small fires can soon turn into big fires.
  

What happens when you dial 999

You will be answered by a telephone exchange operator who will ask you which emergency service you require. Stay on the line and you will then be connected to the Fire Brigade Control Room in Northallerton, NOT your local fire station. Even if you have barred the 'calling line identity' facility, your telephone number will be displayed to the telephone exchange operator. This is a safety feature to enable us to ascertain an approximate location of the emergency.

As you are being connected to the Brigade you will hear the telephone exchange operator passing your telephone number to the fire brigade control operator.

The Fire Brigade Control Operator will then ask you a number of questions
1.      What is the full address?(It is at this stage that Fire Appliances may be mobilised)

2.      What is on fire?

3.      Is there anybody trapped?

4.      Are there any nearby landmarks?

5.      What telephone number are you dialling from?

6.      You may be asked for your name and address?

Why we need to ask you these questions

1.      We need to know the address where the emergency is. This information is entered into our computer to enable us to pinpoint exactly where our fire appliances need to attend.

2.      We need to know what is on fire or what other emergency you have to enable us to decide what our response will be. i.e. how many fire engines we will send.

3.      We need to know if people are trapped inside a building to enable our highly trained operators to offer fire survival advice.

4.      Nearby landmarks, such as pubs or telephone boxes, are valuable sources of information which enable our drivers to reach your location as quickly as possible.

5.      We need to know the telephone number that you are calling from, so that we can contact you again if we need any further information from you. This information is not given to anyone other than emergency service personnel.

6.      We may need to know your name and address. This can be used as a guidance to where the fire has been seen from.

It may seem as though you are being asked too many questions and your call is taking too long to deal with. Don't worry, the Fire Engines are often mobilised while we are still talking to you and other valuable information can be gathered which will be passed on to the firefighters while they are en-route to the incident. This information may include things such as where in a building people are trapped or whether there is things such as an oil tank near the fire.

Emergency calls to the Fire Brigade Control Room are handled, from receipt of the call to mobilising the Fire Appliance, in less than 60 seconds.

Get Out, Stay Out, Get the Fire Brigade Out!

If you have a fire - Do not attempt to extinguish it unless it is safe to do so. Leave the property, closing all the doors behind you and do not go back in to the property until you are told it is safe to do so by the firefighters who attend.

If you are trapped in a fire situation and are unable to leave your properly safely Don't Panic, our fire control operator will stay on the line with you and have been specifically trained to offer you fire survival guidance to help you until the fire engine arrives. (As a comfortable thought, most doors will withstand a fire for approximately 30 minutes, it is extremely rare that your property will be MORE than 20 minutes from the nearest fire engine).

Unless you are directly affected by the fire and have an opportunity to escape, don't put the telephone down until we have taken all the details

Making a 999 call - link to Handbook