SAN JOSE, CA – As you may know, calling Emergency Services right before starting CPR is very important to a sudden cardiac arrest victim’s survival. Calling 911 from a landline is the best course of action. However, many people don’t have those anymore and cell phones are the only option. Calling 911 from your cell phone is not usually the best course of action, unless you are on a freeway of course, as CHP has jurisdiction over the highways. Bay Area cell phone 911 calls are directed to CHP offices in Vallejo and then transfered out to specific cities (there are some exceptions). Sometimes you can get a busy signal or be on hold for many life changing minutes.
Many cities in the area have specific 911 alternate numbers to call from your mobile. Here is a list of the Emergency 911 numbers to call from your cell phone when you are in that particular city.
- San Jose: 408-277-8911
- Campbell: 408-378-8161
- Santa Clara (city): 408-296-2236
- Sunnyvale: 408-736-6244
- Milpitas: 408-263-1212
- Los Gatos: 408-354-8600
- Mountain View: 650-968-1661
Only call these numbers in case of an actual life threatening Emergency!
Very, very valuable information, Adam. I would say 99% of people don’t know that when you dial “911” on cell phone it doesn’t go to your local 911 police station dispatch. Well said!
I’ve had the need to use 911 4 times in my life. Each of those 4 has been in a different part of the country. Tonight was in San Jose, and was the first time in San Jose. It took FAR AND AWAY the longest of any of my calls to even get to a dispatcher. I was told in 3 different languages to not hang up, then, something blasted what seemed like a fax signal into my hearing aids for several seconds … you don’t know what that feels like unless you’ve had it happen. What the *&#R$5 was that anyway? And WHY is it on the emergency response line? I &%$# near hung up with that assault on my ears!!
Say what you want, that was the most inefficient thing I’ve experienced on an emergency call. It’s terrible. Whatever the process is for California, it can be improved. and get rid of that noise …
I don’t live here – I was just here visiting family – so I won’t be here to see what is done to improve it. I wanted to pass the feedback to a department where it could be considered, but I can’t find where that is … is there something used to measure response and gather feedback? I’ll leave that to you to answer. In the meantime, let me just compare it to Washington where I received an answer within a second of calling, and got no noise blasting my ears, and say, what I had happen tonight was TERRIBLE as emergency response goes. Good thing it was only a fire I guess … (sarcasm intended)