PA residents can now text 911 throughout the state

(WKBN)- Starting this week people across Pennsylvania have one more way to get emergency help.

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency announced Thursday that people can now text 911 in every Pennsylvania county.

Most counties, like Mercer County, already had this feature in place. But now it’s available statewide.

A phone call to 911 is still preferred, but PEMA says there are situations where using this text feature could be helpful like when making noise could put a caller in danger, or if the caller has speech or hearing issues.

So there are five steps to get the messaging with 911 started:

• Create a new text message conversation
• Type 911 in the to or recipient field
• In the message describe your location and include your address and the township or borough. Describe the situation and what type of help is needed.
• Send the message. After that, be ready to answer follow up questions like a 911 scenario.

They ask you not to use abbreviations or emojis and text messages with 911 may take longer than a phone call. So if you’re able, a phone call is still preferred.

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