Dialling Of 111 In An Emergency

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30365, 14 February 1964, Page 13

Dialling Of 111 In An Emergency

“Dial 111 for police, fire brigade or ambulance.” This instruction will be given when new telephone books are issued for Christchurch, and the system is expected to operate from August.

Advice of the system was given to the Christchurch’Metropolitan Fire Board by the Post Office last evening.

Recommending the system, I Mr L. R. Osmond, the Chief Fire Officer, said that every | telephone box would become the Are alarm. ■ There may be some initial problems, and it may be a great lark for the boys when they can go into a ’phone box and dial 111, but I am sure it will settle down and be a boon to the brigade,” Mr Csmond said. The public would need to be educated on the new system, he said. Persons would have to learn to give the exact area of a call, for there were several places in the district which had common names, such as King street and Queen street. He recalled an occasion in Wellington where three brigades had to turn out because the call was to a street the name of which occurred in three areas. There would be added work for the central watchroom, Mr Osmond said, but the system was working in various other parts of the country. All calls would be received at the central headquarters, which would send out the appropriate brigade. System Explained The emergency number system was the same as the Brit:sh 999, but in New Zealand the dial numbers were in reverse order, said Mr E. G. Harris, Post Office divisional equipment engineer, last evening. "It is purely an emergency service for calls to the police, ambulance and fire brigade. Ordinary business calls to those people must not be passed over to the 111 service.” he said. . Anv subscriber who could directly dial into. Christchurch, including coin boxes, would be able to use the 111 service. That took in Kaiapoi, Diamond Harbour, Governor’s Pay, Motukarara and Tai Taou.

"The caller will simply lift the receiver and dial 11lCalls from coin boxes will not

require any money,” said Mr Harris.

Operator’s Part “The call will be answered by a Post Office operator and she must be told what service is required. She will then plug in to a direct line to police, ambulance, or fire brigade. The appropriate service will accept responsibility for taking the necessary action. The Post Office operator is really a switching agent. “The service will be introduced in August probably, when the Christchurch telephone system will be reorganised to introduce both the 111 emergency service and the six-figure numbering in many parts of the city. As other areas are converted to automatic working, the 111 system will be progressively spread further,” Mr Harris said. Considerable additional equipment and work would be necessary to establish the system, including special equipment on the toll boards to call tire operators’ attention to the emergency number. “And, of course, these calls will get priority,” said Mr Harris.