Increase in 911 calls around holidays

HANOVER TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Just because the Fourth of July is over doesn’t mean the celebrations are stopping.

Holidays like Independence Day mean long nights for Luzerne County 911.

Many calls are for actual emergencies like injuries and crashes, but some are for complaints about fireworks.

“It does get very busy during the holidays, especially with the Fourth of July with a lot of the different calls that come into the center. We do ask that people use their best judgment when calling 911,” said Brian black the quality assurance and training coordinator in Luzerne County.

Black says firework complaints are a frequent flyer during the summer months.

“We’d rather people call when they have a true emergency with different things like, yes we do want to know if someone gets hurt due to a firework, we want to know if they cause a fire, if a house catches on fire, even if the fireworks are very close to a structure,” explained Black.

If you do call 911 for any reason, don’t hang up, even if the situation changes and you no longer need help.

“Stay on the line, even if it’s taking a little while for the phone to answer or even if you get a recorded message. If you hang up, what happens is, every 911 call actually goes into a queue, and when it goes into that queue, even if you hang up, we have to call that 911 call back. And if you’re trying to call back at the same time, it’s just pulling it further and further into the queue,” stated Black.

The Luzerne County 911 center averages more than one thousand calls each day, covering 76 municipalities within the county.

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