How long did it take for responders to arrive after you made a 911 call?
Posted by SlamClick@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 418 comments
If you've ever called 911 for an emergency what has been the response time?
whatdoidonowdamnit@reddit
As an adult it’s always been less than five minutes. I’ve coincidentally always lived within two blocks of a fire department in various apartment. As a kid it was like 10-15 minutes because we just didn’t live as close.
hairball45@reddit
Just a couple of minutes. The fire station is about a block away. They've come for emergencies involving both my wife and myself.
Legitimate-March9792@reddit
It was so quick I didn’t have time to put on my shoes before answering the door! I swear it was about 3 minutes, if that! I live in the suburbs of a small historic upscale town in New England. I believe they stage ambulances around town so they have good response times. They have always been very quick. Luckily it wasn’t a bad emergency.
cruisin_joe_list@reddit
I was physically assaulted two days ago at a bus stop in a major city. I wasn't seriously injured and the guy ran off. Called the cops and they never came lol.
malepitt@reddit
downtown in a major city, about 5 minutes. But it seemed like forever since we were doing CPR on a guy
UsualBluebird6584@reddit
Damn. In New Orleans I think the avg time is over 150 minutes.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
That sounds horrible. Did he make it?
sluttypidge@reddit
Sadly chances aren't on your side. CPR initiated outside a hospital setting is only successful about 10% of the time.
There's other factors that can improve it. Good quality CPR, availability of an AED, and immediate starting of CPR can double to triple your chances of survival.
Drowning victims with short down times have the best chance since it's respiratory failure and not heart failure. Survival to getting to leave the hospital after being brought back from drowning is lower than the initial survival rate. Infection and such can be a large challenge.
GothWitchOfBrooklyn@reddit
in NYC they took 2 hours to respond to me once.
Chemical-Contest4120@reddit
That seems unfathomable. What's the full story?
GothWitchOfBrooklyn@reddit
then-bf went upstairs to ask the neighbors to quiet down, they were always incredibly loud.
upstairs neighbor started attacking my bf, threw him down the stairs.
called 911 as it was happening and they showed up 2 hours later
Chemical-Contest4120@reddit
Was anyone bleeding? Was anyone having trouble breathing?
The cops take 2 hours to come if there's only a civil dispute. But the ambulance comes in 5 minutes if life is in jeopardy.
Mrs_Gracie2001@reddit
Less than five minutes
Ouija429@reddit
Depends in my case it was 12 minutes.
Jennyelf@reddit
I live two blocks from the FD, so they're here in less than ten minutes.
CanadianDollar87@reddit
in Canada, it took 30 minutes for an ambulance to get to my grandmother. since she had life alert, my uncle was contacted. he got to her before the ambulance did.
justagirl1112@reddit
10 minutes. Weird because I live like 2 miles from the station and it was a pretty relaxed morning that day until the incident. Not sure what took them so long.
Tygrkatt@reddit
They aren't usually hanging out in the station. They'll be out on patrol so could be anywhere in the jurisdiction.
Nancy6651@reddit
Years and years ago, in Chicago, I had fallen asleep and heard something (music) in the basement. Realized our back door was unlocked. I called my husband, who was working, and he said call 911. I did, and was told to get out of the house. Me, my daughter, and our dog were hunkered in the car, and 4 squad cars showed up within 5 minutes. Also my husband. It was a f---ing alarm button that had been accidentally set in the basement bathroom on a clock radio. Beyond embarrassed.
Tygrkatt@reddit
Can you explain why you called your husband first? Why not call 911 directly if you thought someone had gotten in the house?
whtevrnichole@reddit
depends, it usually takes several minutes to reach an operator where i live. once dispatched maybe 5 minutes if i’m calling for an ambulance or police. fire is typically a little quicker.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
Why the delay?
whtevrnichole@reddit
not enough operators. i sit on hold for a few minutes. i rarely get an instant answer.
Tygrkatt@reddit
Emergency services are chronically understaffed all over the country
Tygrkatt@reddit
There are so many factors it can't be boiled down. I have worked in police only 911 center for 18 years. For a Priority 1 call, things like stabbing or shooting or robbery, our Standard Operating Procedure calls for a 4 minute response time. That's what they're supposed to aim for and if it takes longer the reason why is supposed to be documented.
I've seen response times as little as 35 seconds. We had an active shooter incident and two of three of our county sheriff's deputies just happened to be having lunch like right next door.
I've seen a Breaking and Entering in Progress with a Weapon take 15 minutes. It was nighttime, raining, and was in the most isolated little corner of the county that always takes a while to get to anyway.
I've seen calls that the victim most likely felt were high priority sit for hours because everyone was tied up on other things that were higher priority.
I've had people with really low priority stuff like parking complaints get very very mad when they are told that officers are tied up on higher priority calls and it'll be a delay before someone gets out there.
You'll get a lot of answers to this question. Most people unless they're in the industry won't even think about how calls are prioritized, much less understand it.
Luzithemouse@reddit
3 minutes. Fire station is about 1/2 mile away
fuckingfucku@reddit
Well I can say the last time that I had to call because the neighbor's girlfriend was trying to break into my house to kill me as she was having a mental breakdown I called 911 three separate times, multiple other neighbors called 911 and they just never showed up. I was very specifically told by the second operator that I got twice that they were too busy to come and help me essentially.
Ultimately it compounded into a SWAT team coming over to get the boyfriend after an 11 hour standoff a couple weeks later.
My experiences with calling 911 have varied. Currently where I'm located it has notoriously taken over an hour to even get a 911 operator to answer though they seem to have improved that a bit thanks to some kind of automated system but you still have to wait, but even if you call it doesn't mean you're going to get help. And that has kind of been my experience for most of my life.
I never had much faith in police anyways but I most certainly didn't for that scenario. Also where I live if you need an ambulance same problem. You call 911, you're going to be waiting up to an hour or more and you will more than likely not be able to get an ambulance. I live in a large city on the West Coast.
Fun_Inspector_8633@reddit
It really depends. I've had to call twice. Once for a nasty auto accident in front of our house and the fire department was there in about three minutes. Of course it helped that their station was 5 blocks down the same road. Second time was for a medical emergency at work (lady had a seizure) and it felt like an hour standing out side the building waiting for them. In reality it was about 7 or 8 minutes to get from their station that was about 2 miles away. She was really lucky because when it happened two other shoppers in the same aisle were both ER nurses so I guess technically there was someone administering basic aide within seconds.
FWIW Almost all the fire stations here also have an ambulance stationed there as well. All firefighters are trained as EMTs at a minimum and the ones who staff the ambulances are certified paramedics.
Iamyou-YouareMe1979@reddit
I don't remember.. the guy that hit me made the call
RabbitsRuse@reddit
Most previous places I’ve lived, response time is 15 to 20 minutes. Current neighborhood is more like 2 to 5.
Bluecat72@reddit
I’m in a semi-rural area, and am fortunate to have a fire station fairly close by. I’ve unfortunately had to call several times for my parents, and it’s never taken more than 5 minutes or so.
Funnygumby@reddit
I’ve only called once after I was held up at gunpoint. That’s a whole nother humorous story. The cops were there in about 5 minutes
PissedOffChef@reddit
Depends on whether or not I called in the hood or in a nicer neighborhood. In the neighborhood I live in, cops were there in less than 5 min. When I saw someone get knifed up in the hood, the dispatcher literally hung up on me. Acted like I was a nuisance for bothering her. Fuck that lady wherever she is.
capsrock02@reddit
It depends on several different things
MrBrickMahon@reddit
7 minutes, which is about the time it takes to get from the firehouse to our house at normal speed.
BioDriver@reddit
I can see the fire department from my house and the one time we called them they were here in under a minute
Schroeje@reddit
Growing up in a tiny but decently funded town it was like this. 3 min was a long wait for first car as they would patrol, maybe 7min if you were on the edge of town on a thin windy road for the fire truck or ambulance because everyone would move out of the way. Took about 5 min for them to come when the weird person on the street called to report their welcome mat stolen but I suspect that was due to laughing and wanting to look professional when they arrived.
HotSauce2910@reddit
I live near one and they once arrived before we even finished the 911 call
KnowOneHere@reddit
Haha same. I live next dooe to one.
Another time there was a fire, we didn't even call. We just ran over.
Those are good peeps.
Ok-Helicopter129@reddit
Our fire station is almost that close. Saved my husband life last year. One of the advantages of this home. Hospital is 6 minutes away.
Sleepygirl57@reddit
Same
vikio@reddit
Yeah lol. The previous place I lived at was around the corner from Fire Station. During a storm something electrical out on the street exploded or maybe got hit with lightning. A live electrical wire was MELTING the sidewalk and throwing sparks around. A part of the tree next to my window was on fire. It was undoubtedly a 911 moment. As I dialed it to tell them what was happening, the fire truck was already pulling up. They did have to wait around a few minutes for the electrical people to arrive and turn off the main power.
Actually there's another similar story. The only time I was in a major car accident, an Ambulance was like... Right behind us. They may have actually spooked the other car into hitting us and caused the accident. I dunno, but they saw the accident and stopped to pick me up. It was surreal. Didn't even call 911 that time.
IDGAF502@reddit
They haven't....
LuluBelle_Jones@reddit
Small town- population 1011. It took the ambulance 15 minutes but instead of putting my hubs on a stretcher (after being told he absolutely could not walk) they dropped him on his face on our concrete porch. We’ll die where we sit before I ever call them again.
Affectionate_Sock528@reddit
I used to work at a call center where we dispatched on security and fire alarms. Every single agency is different. Some answer the phone fast but respond slow. Some take forever to answer but response time once they answer is speedy. Most prioritize by severity. Confirmed fire in an elementary school is probably 1-2 minutes most places. Residential door alarm with no contact with home owners is probably more like 20 minutes. Unfortunately I have experienced the follow up calls from active robberies where police didn’t respond until 5+ hours later and their house was completely trashed even though we called police within 30 seconds of the alarm going off:/ in general small towns have faster response times because they’re typically bored and just sitting around waiting for a call to come in
DuneChild@reddit
I live within a mile of the both fire station and the police headquarters. Last time I had to call, paramedics were here within 5 minutes.
greenkni@reddit
Standard response time in my city is 4 minutes for fire or medical… can be hours for cops unless it’s like an active shooter or something
NickElso579@reddit
Funnily enough, when I actually had to call 911, I was too busy managing the situation that warranted the call rather than timing the paramedics. It probably felt like way longer than it actually was.
fredonia4@reddit
3 minutes.
Visual-Fig-4763@reddit
I’ve had to call 4 times in 3 different cities. 3 were between 5-15 minutes and the last time they didn’t arrive at all. That was terrifying because a guy had broken into our house. I was upstairs and just told to hide and stay on the line, nobody was available to respond. When I told the dispatcher I saw the guy leave on my camera, she just suggested I go to the police station the next day to file a police report. The police did nothing more than write a report and look at the camera footage.
The_Ri_Ri@reddit
I've only had to do this once, but it took 4 minutes from the call to them pulling into our driveway.
GlitteringLocality@reddit
I live in a Rural area and I’d say 15-20 min max it took them to come out here. Oddly very speedy which was good! When I lived in the city about 5 -7 min.
___cats___@reddit
I live in a fairly well off suburb. Had a crazy guy come into my house in broad daylight and after 911 was called police were there in under 5 minutes.
Cocacola_Desierto@reddit
5 minutes, suburbs. Would not call it a critical emergency.
Another time, about 15 minutes, busy street. Could have been an emergency, but ended up not being one.
CraftFamiliar5243@reddit
My husband worked in a suburb of Chicago, their response time, from the time 911 answered the call, to when the medics showed up at your doorstep was about 5 minutes. We are now in a very rural, volunteer department. The response time to get the local volunteers, and several are EMTs, to the house is more like 8-10 minutes, and it takes 20 minutes for the medics with the ambulance over the mountain. Similar response time for the helicopter but the helicopter can get you to the hospital faster than the 1 hour drive to the nearest big city hospital with a trauma center
Extension-Ad8549@reddit
They come as soon as possiable
SnooPineapples521@reddit
10, 15 minutes or so. I’ve only ever had to call them for car crashes though so they’re pretty well rehearsed on response, it’s more a matter of distance, living in a more rural area. An hour drive can take you across the country, but for us an hour gets us to work.
surfingonmars@reddit
here's a "fun" fact: only 13 states in the US recognize EMS as an essential service. in my community, up until 2023, we did not have a local ambulance. so medical emergencies might wait up to an hour for a response.
Scribe625@reddit
The ambulance has taken around 10 minutes every time I've had to call 911 because it has to come from the next town over. But I've also had volunteer firefighters arrive with their med kit within just a few minutes which I was so thankful for.
Spirited-Mess170@reddit
About 10 minutes for the reservation fire department aid car to arrive. We’re about 7 miles from the fire station. The biggest delay is caused by the need of an escort to maneuver through our area, especially at night.
HamBone868@reddit
A few minutes
theskipper363@reddit
Roughly 15 minutes, gentleman’s cross the centerline and head pinned with a dump truck while I was waiting to enter the highway from my work driveway.
Honestly felt like hours, I just did it by counting the AED cycles in my head lol
Resident_Bitch@reddit
Maybe like 5-10 minutes? Not long. I live in a city with a little over 100,000 people. Fortunately I've only had to call twice.
TankDestroyerSarg@reddit
I've had it taken maybe 5 minutes in town when reporting armed robbery. Had county deputy show up maybe 15 minutes after calling about some yahoo duck hunting at 6 AM behind my house and hitting it with birdshot. What a useless lump that guy was. I've had paramedics pick someone up about 2 minutes after calling, but the firehouse was just a couple blocks away. All were different exact locations within about 45 minutes of each other.
Electrical_Ad_8313@reddit
About 20 seconds.
It's a funny story. My cousin and I were home alone when we were around 15. We stayed up until like 1a.m watching some movie, he was half asleep and I could feel myself falling asleep. I look outside and see a flashlight on the car in the driveway. I lived out in a rural area at the time so no one should've been out there. I wake up my cousin and we hear people on the patio, so he goes to call 911 but the call doesn't go through because the phone line was cut. I go to get the key to the gun safe when we hear pounding on the door and someone yells police. It turned out the heavy rain that day had damaged our phone line and it sent a signal to the police that the phone was off the hook or something and they sent a couple officers to check it out.
I've only called 911 one other time and it took 4-5 minutes
Melgel4444@reddit
Anywhere from 2 minutes to 10 minutes in my experience, with the exception being roadside accidents that aren’t actively blocking traffic. I’ve waited 3+ hours on the side of the highway in freezing winter after getting rear ended bc I was able to get to the shoulder so they didn’t rush
AdFresh8123@reddit
I live in the county and expected them to take a while. Fortunately, there happened to be a crew driving nearby that was coming back from a hospital in another city. They arrived in less than four minutes.
Decent-Character172@reddit
I live 2 minutes from a fire station, but when I needed medical attention it took probably 15 minutes for anyone to get to my house. The people at my local station must have already been out on another call so I different truck had to come.
RIPdon_sutton@reddit
I called them because I thought my across the street neighbor was beating his wife. I was right. Cops were there in two minutes. Reckon they were in the area anyway.
TemporarilyAnguished@reddit
Called the cops twice on my neighbor beating his girlfriend. I lived about three minutes from the station. First time, they took so long to get there, both of the neighbors had left after their ‘fight’ (probably about thirty minutes). Second time, everything hushed up right as the cops pulled into the lot sirens blaring and they left after knocking once and not getting an answer. Never tried again after that and they moved out the next month.
Ky3031@reddit
Dang, I watched my neighbor beat his girlfriend in broad daylight outside their door. I brought her inside and called the cops and they didn’t show up for 3 HOURS
Casehead@reddit
You're a good person
88918240@reddit
I had to call for my daughter a couple weeks ago.. and 2 min maybe?
emoberg62@reddit
Have only called once, when I thought my husband was having a heart attack. He wanted me to drive him to the ER, which would have taken 15 minutes or so. I called 911 instead. They arrived in 2-3 minutes.He wasn’t having a heart attack but it was a heart arrhythmia that was making him feel very faint and weak. He takes meds for it now. We live in a medium-sized city (about 300,000 people).
Pyesmybaby@reddit
it took the police about 15 minutes to get to my house when somebody was trying to break in my house. The criminal mastermind tried to break in to a house 1 block from me was chased away by the home owner tried to break into my house was chased away by me and my dogs then tried to break in to a house a block further east from me when the police caught up with him and arrested him.
Anthrodiva@reddit
Four minutes in DC
-ASkyWalker-@reddit
It honestly depends on a lot of factors. Anywhere from a minute to an hour
ragingdemon88@reddit
I laid on the cold frozen ground for 45 minutes with a broken spine waiting.
Duderoy@reddit
People will get this wrong. When you are waiting it seems like forever. When you are on the fire truck it is very quick.
Connect_Office8072@reddit
This depends very much on where you live. I live half the year in an urban area and half the year in a dry rural area (mountains and woods.) I had a heart attack this past summer when I was in the country, and it took about 30-40 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Then it took an hour for them to get me to the hospital. Luckily, it was mild and I am fine, but that area got hit with a hurricane later in the summer. It destroyed a lot of roads and made driving and receiving medical assistance very difficult or impossible. We came back to our urban area early.
WW06820@reddit
45 minutes in LA - with a homeless guy threatening me with a screwdriver as I sheltered in a parking garage. LE SIGH.
jendickinson@reddit
Seconds in Chicago. EMTs, CPD, and CFD swarmed my house, and drove the wrong way down a major street to the ER.
Karamist623@reddit
Depends on the emergency, what city or area you’re in, and how many cops they have.
I had to call them on my job, and they were there in about 10 minutes or less.
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
They showed up like 12 hours later.
nogueydude@reddit
I did recently in Nashville and the fire department and an ambulance showed up in 5 minutes. It was very quick I thought
eightcarpileup@reddit
Wow, who could believe a Californian moved to Nashville. 😒
nogueydude@reddit
Ah, thanks for chiming in! This is definitely the place for it. Y'all southerners really live up to the 'nice' stereotype.
eightcarpileup@reddit
Because we love being priced out of our hometowns. :)
nogueydude@reddit
I've been in Nashville for a decade and noticed this type of thinking right away. Even before we were "pricing you out". It pretty clearly started as a political dig and I just don't think it's a constructive attitude. You do you though. It's free to be nice, just so you know.
Just know when one of you true southerners moves to California, the same does not apply. We will absolutely comment on your accent, typically in a positive way, but you wont feel the hate. Have a nice night, my palmetto acquaintance.
ExplanationNo8603@reddit
Longer then a 45
nojusticenopeaceluv@reddit
Called in Minneapolis once as I watched a group of 10 people jump a guy.
Took over 5min just for 911 to pick up. Literally a recording saying “you have called 911 don’t hang up an operator will be with you shortly” played.
Willing_Fee9801@reddit
About 5 minutes here. I've found I get a faster response if I call the police department instead. About 3 minutes for a direct call.
FlamingBagOfPoop@reddit
Had an electrical fire on a power line and pole by my house. They showed up within 5 or 6 min.
idanrecyla@reddit
The last time I came was in July, I had a freak accident and cut my foot. I was hemorrhaging and had just walked into a very hot apartment alone so knew I had to get help or pass out and bleed out. It took about ten minutes for the ambulance to arrive. However my brother who carries a first aid kit for work, was coming over and already on my street. He stopped the bleeding first. Then came the NYFD, the fire department and they put a tourniquet on my foot. It was at least ten minutes later when the ambulance arrived
dietspritecran@reddit
Never - tell me to file a report online
awakeagain2@reddit
I live in a rural area where each town has its own police department. The few times I called 911, the police responded within a few minutes, the ambulance/rescue squad less than ten.
kartoffel_engr@reddit
I’ve called 911 twice in my life for other people.
First time it took at 10mins.
Second time was probably like 20-30mins, but felt like an eternity because I was doing chest compressions the entire time on the side of the highway. That lady died after being ejected from her car.
TickdoffTank0315@reddit
The survival rate for a traumatic arrest (which is what you described) is vanishingly low. You do all you can for those patients, but it almost always has a poor outcome.
kartoffel_engr@reddit
I’m pretty sure she was gone shortly after she hit the deck. I saw her in the air but the median blocked my view of the impact. The tragic part is she almost side swiped me miles back. Called it in as I followed her erratic driving. They told me to “call back if she wrecks”. One minute and 32 seconds later she over corrected and flipped down the banked median. Slipped right out the open driver window at the apex. First thing I did was turn off her car. Nearly empty half gallon of vodka on the floor and the whole car smelled of perspired alcohol. Woman had a hard life. I thought she was in her late 40s, turned out she was just 36. It wasn’t her first run in with DUI, but it was her last.
NarcolepticTreesnake@reddit
Sounds crass but a single fatality is actually a pretty good outcome for that story. My step sister was killed with 4 others by a woman like that. Wish we had better off roads for people like that before it gets terminal.
kartoffel_engr@reddit
Considering how many other people she almost hit, it sure was. The overcorrect that sent her off the road was a swerve to miss another vehicle, hit the soft shoulder on the left, careened to the right shoulder, and went straight back across the freeway back towards me and rolled down the median. Fortunately she stayed off the southbound lanes and was resting right off the road.
YogaBeth@reddit
2 minutes. My father-in-law’s Apple Watch “detected a hard fall”. It automatically called 911 and my husband. The medics got there before we did. It was incredible.
MaggieNFredders@reddit
I’m in a very rural area. The fire department is volunteer. The neighbors had a fire on NYE. The gas tank exploded alerting us all. I called 911 as I grabbed my fire extinguisher and headed out with it. The first fireman was there within five minutes. The fire truck took a few minutes longer.
finnbee2@reddit
I live at the top of a T intersection of two secondary highways. In the time I've lived here, we've called 911 three times. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to get an ambulance here.
FilthyNasty626@reddit
Im still waiting 6 years later. Thats ok I'm a Texan veteran. I own firearms and an excavator.
SeparateMongoose192@reddit
I've never called 911, so I don't know
thriller1122@reddit
35 min. Rural New Hampshire in 2001.
TehWildMan_@reddit
Varies a lot. In a large city, I've had first responders in 5 minutes once
Out in the rural parts of a country where there's only 1 ambulance stationed for an entire county, seeing an ambulance show up can take a decent amount of time
codefyre@reddit
To echo this, I own more than one piece of property in California. One in the SF Bay Area and one in the Sierra Nevada foothills that I'll retire onto someday.
A few years ago, at my home in the bay, my security camera alerted to some motion on the side of my house at 3AM. Turned out to be a tweaker trying to steal yard tools from my garden shed. I called 911, and a police car was at my house in six minutes.
About 15 years ago, I was dozing in a travel trailer at one end of my foothill property when I heard gunfire at about 4PM. Looked out the window and saw two guys shooting cans off my fence, on my property, a couple hundred yards away. I walked out, told them to leave my property, and they basically told me to eff off.
Dialed 911. Tuolumne County dispatch said they'd send someone out. I'm glad it wasn't an emergency, because after 15 years, I still haven't seen anyone respond to that call. Nobody ever showed up. The two guys eventually ran out of ammo and daylight, and left of their own accord. The nearby property lines got a shiny new security barb wire fence a few days later (kind of like regular barbed wire, but double stranded and with the barbs closer together so it's harder to cut or climb through).
Location really matters.
ElAwesomeo0812@reddit
On that same note in a poorly designed or dying city response time can be awful. At one point parts of Detroit had something like a 40 minute response time. The running joke was if you're hurt you're better off calling Domino's because they will be there in 30 minutes or less and you should at least enjoy a nice pizza before you die.
RagingFlower580@reddit
In my rural community, it is not uncommon for 911 calls to go to voicemail.
GazelleSubstantial76@reddit
I lived in the middle of nowhere for a bit and had to call 911 once while I was there. My county didn't have a dispatcher so there was recorded message and a list of numbers to call in neighboring counties for emergency services and the message also suggested that if I needed to go to the hospital they recommended driving myself if possible. I had called bc there was a person in my driveway so after I heard the 911 message I fired a few shots in their general direction and they left.
MidnightPandaX@reddit
That's the rural way
CookbooksRUs@reddit
Oh, yes! I called once in Chicago in the ‘80s because I’d heard a couple fighting, then him chasing her down the gangway, him hollering, her screaming.
Requilem@reddit
Don't forget places like Alaska and Wyoming where there are no services.
EclipseoftheHart@reddit
In the rural community I grew up in firefighters and ambulance crews were all volunteers. Most of the towns with 500+ people had an ambulance & fire crew, but in many cases people had to be transported between 30-90 miles since most of the hospitals in the county had been closed by the time I was a kid.
davidm2232@reddit
Right. So they have to get called, drive from their house to the station, start up the firetruck, and then drive to the emergency. It is not fast at all.
Psyco_diver@reddit
Depends also on paid and volunteer first responders, the paid have staff 24/7, the volunteers need to be alerted at home or work and then they go to the station. We have 2 paid stations in my county, not including the large towns, and I think 10 volunteer stations scattered about
Visible-Shop-1061@reddit
It also depends on what the emergency is. If someone is bleeding to death, they come quicker than if you saw some guy with a machete yelling.
WinterKnigget@reddit
For a real emergency, a literal dumpster fire in an apartment building, it took less than 5 minutes. That was because there was multiple fire stations nearby, and I wasn't the first caller
IAreAEngineer@reddit
Fairly quickly. I can't remember how long. Within 20 minutes? I live in suburbia.
Caliopebookworm@reddit
I lived in the town near the EMS station so it was just a few minutes....maybe 10.
Such-Mountain-6316@reddit
Around ten minutes. I really didn't time it exactly, but I did check the call time.
munkymama@reddit
Wow after reading these responses I feel fortunate to live in Edison NJ which is in central Jersey. We have had less than 5 minute response times anytime 911 was needed. Usually they are there in 3 minutes or less.
dontlookback76@reddit
I've called for medical issues for my wife. First turned out to be a gallbladder, and she was having an attack. The other was a back issue that wouldn't let her even sit up in bed, let alone get down the stairs of our 2nd floor apartment. Both times, the fire department was there in 5 minutes, and the private ambulance to do transport was a couple of minutes after that. We have pretty decent EMS here. Our various fire departments, there are 4 in the Vegas valley, are very well trained and quickly respond.
Watcher0011@reddit
Depends as a paramedic we legally have and per contract 8 minutes to arrive on scene. With that said the police in my area can take hours to arrive, if you want an an officer to arrive in under 4 hours you have have to use certain words when you call 911 like weapons, firearms ect, otherwise most of the time they tell you to file a online complaint. Fire department is like ambulance they are here in minutes. I’m in California.
AuburnSpeedster@reddit
3 minutes for the EMT's.. cops? less than 2 minutes..
victoria98769@reddit
I've never called them. I always drove the person myself, honked my horn and went through traffic lights.
Chubby_Comic@reddit
I've had to call 911 at least 3 times for various people. 2 of them were customers where I used to work. It usually takes less than 5 minutes, but I live in a small town. The emergency services are just like 2 miles from me.
Usual-Ad6290@reddit
Minutes and we are in the sticks
Do_I_Need_Pants@reddit
I accidentally put the emergency response key code when walking into my house. The police showed up the next day.
thewickedbarnacle@reddit
Still waiting since I called last time. That was about 3 years ago. Someone tried to kick the front door in while we were out. Called 911 and went home immediately. I did recently get a bill for them responding to a false alarm. I was home. They didn't come. Denied appeal for fine. No police on ring camera all day.
SnooBunnies6148@reddit
One time I called, and they thought it was a prank call, so they didn't send anyone until I called back 20 minutes later. Outside, mid-February, and after midnight!! I was freaking COLD by the time they got there!
audvisial@reddit
I've called twice and they got there within about five minutes both times.
feryoooday@reddit
I’m out in the county and they were here in like 5 minutes. I was truly impressed. Called for DV.
CookbooksRUs@reddit
About 5 minutes. We live a mile outside city limits. Had I driven my husband to the ER it would have taken 15 minutes at least.
psychocentric@reddit
I used to be a 911 operator, and it really REALLY varies on location. We had an average response time of 10 minutes for our city's paid fire/medical, about the same for local police. Fire tried to get down to 8 minutes, and were working on that when I left. I would guestimate 30 minutes for rural volunteer agencies and county calls. The longest time I was on the phone with someone was a few hours, but we had terrible road conditions, couldn't get a great location, and all our responders just struggled finding them. I worked for a smaller agency, so I had to put people on hold to dispatch other emergencies, but I'd try my hardest to not hang up on someone having a crisis.
Shortest time was sheer luck and it took longer for me to create the call in the computer than it took the responder to get to the scene.
WittyAndWeird@reddit
911 here doesn’t always answer. lol
Alternative-Being181@reddit
In a rural area, I was one of 6 people who called 911 for a residence on fire. The fire trucks arrived at least a half hour later, and by then the small building (made of very light materials) had been burned to the ground.
eyegull@reddit
When my dad passed, I called 911, told them I believed my father had a heart attack. Under the guide of the operator I performed CPR for maybe a minute before I heard pounding on the door downstairs. I was literally flabbergasted by how quickly they were on site.
ThePickleConnoisseur@reddit
Depends how close the nearest fire station, police station, or hospital is and also how much traffic there is
CassiLeigh16@reddit
Unfortunately had to call twice last month.
For a minor car accident (no injuries), took about 10 minutes - just needed police report to submit to insurance, so not a huge rush other than we were standing on the side of a busy intersection. They knew it was no hurry.
A week later, called as a family member had difficulty breathing, turned blue, and had a slight altered mental state (determined to be rapidly worsening sepsis), a first responders arrived 12 minutes after calling. Those 12 minutes were some of the scariest I’ve ever experienced as we witnessed rapid deterioration. We knew they would be “ok” once we had first responders, but we live in a fairly rural area of New Jersey, almost 30 minutes away from our hospital. Another family member offered to drive to get them there faster rather than wait on an ambulance (has happened to us before), but glad we called as they needed oxygen and constant monitoring for about 24 hours after the initial call. I actually just saw on our county alerts page that ETA on ambulance was over 30 minutes for a fall victim and they requested it be cancelled and had a neighbor drive them to the hospital instead…
TLDR: response times vary, and even a quick response for my area may not be quick enough if there is rapid intensification of an emergency.
Tornadoes_427@reddit
Barn (or the hay inside the barn) was on fire in rural AL with our equipment parked inside. They had firetrucks to us in about 5 minutes and by the end of it we had all the available firetrucks and first response teams from about 6 towns there. Very very small towns so not as huge of a deal as it sounds but the hay burnt for so long and smelt so bad-
theflyinghillbilly2@reddit
My mom lived in an extremely rural area. The nearest small town, less than 1000 people, was 3.5 miles away. She lived alone well into her nineties. She told me that when she fell down, she would call 911 and they would be there in just a few minutes and help her up.
I was a little skeptical, but after I started staying with her she took a very bad fall and pulled all the skin off her forearm. The first responders were there in under five minutes. The ambulance took a little longer, but I think it was under 30 minutes.
Turns out, multiple first responders live on that road within a couple of miles! So now that my daughter is staying at the house after my mom’s passing, I don’t worry about her too much.
Capable_Stranger9885@reddit
I called 911 for a crashed cyclist on the Schuylkill River Trail, on a segment within Valley Forge National Historic Park. A Park Service Ranger was with us in about 10 minutes and an ambulance within 20 (vehicle access to the rail trail in this segment was a few miles in either direction, so that was pretty good). The rider wasn't bleeding but definitely had the common cycle crash dislocated shoulder.
kilroy-was-here-2543@reddit
I was driving back to my university one time and saw a wildfire starting. I called 9/11 and about 5 minutes later I saw a wildland fire truck racing by in the direction of the fire. If it weren’t for the fact that the university was there it probably would’ve been a lot longer
Conversely, my grandfather and I got in a car accident one time in the suburbs and it took them like 20 minutes to get to us (now granted nobody was hurt)
Ok-Tourist-1011@reddit
That one depends 😂🤣 I’ve lived in buttfuck Montana where anyone besides a town cop and a singular EMT we were SOL for 30-45 min on any emergency services, then our town built an EMT station for our older folks around ❤️❤️❤️ that REALLY helped! I’ve lived in a tiny bit bigger cities in Montana where it can take 5 minutes for a whole squad to show up or like in Nashville it took 5 hours for the cops to show up
AllPeopleAreStupid@reddit
It's always too long when you need help. When seconds matter, help is only minutes away.
Ok-Delivery4715@reddit
15 minutes. Some places it’s 2, others it’s 2 weeks
Chazzysnax@reddit
A lot of folks here are saying that you can expect much faster response times in an urban envoronment than in a rural one. This is usually the case, but there are more variables at play. My work (in a smaller, semi-rural town) is situated accross the street from the police station and 3 blocks from the fire department, both times I've called 911 from there they arrived before I was off the phone with the dispatcher. The one time I was in an accident in the city nearby, I was on hold for about 12 minutes before speaking to anyone and the response took another 20 or so.
DarwinGhoti@reddit
In a suburban area, my wife fell and had a head injury. The ambulance was there in under five minutes, which saved her life.
Requilem@reddit
Like so many people have already started, some areas in America you're looking at a 5 minute wait where other parts of America there is no Ambulance service and you are on your own.
MVHood@reddit
I'm in a small town and it took around 10 minutes for the fire department to arrive then another five for the ambulance. I'm very lucky to have a fully staffed fire department 1.5 miles away and am 5-10 minutes from a major freeway depending on the speed you go.
NegativeEbb7346@reddit
1 minute once. I lived next door to a fire station.
codenameajax67@reddit
Depends on what the call was about.
When I saw a car flip, 15 minutes.
When I saw some folks vandalizing local buildings, over an hour.
Wadsworth_McStumpy@reddit
My wife called, and it was less than 5 minutes.
It sort of surprised us, because it takes about 15 minutes to drive to town from our house. I presume they had an ambulance that happened to be driving near us, or those drivers are crazy. Either way, happy they were so fast, because I was bleeding pretty bad.
(The ER doctor said that it wasn't as bad as it seemed, but I had a bath towel that was totally soaked, and that seemed pretty bad to me.)
cdb03b@reddit
I live in a rural town. At my house it takes about 15 min. If I am in town proper it takes about 5.
Fun-Yellow-6576@reddit
Large metro area, took about 3 minutes moved to a rural area it took about 15, live now in a suburb, took 6 minutes.
OkayDuck99@reddit
Still waiting tbh
sheshesheila@reddit
An hour and a half… for a missing child.
verruckter51@reddit
Burglars in my house as I am next door. Took police 15 minutes to show up. 911 dispatch apparently didn't tell them it was active scene. Burglars left at about 5 minutes after I called. After I explained the situation to the officer, there were at least twenty car at my house in 5 minutes. Got to watch the theives drive out of the deadend street I live on before the police got there. My phone was in the house and their plates were covered.
kewissman@reddit
About 3 minutes for rescue to arrive, according to my wife. I was unconscious.
NumerousAd79@reddit
Less than 5 minutes, but the person came running down the street carrying a medical bag while putting on gloves. My mom was in anaphylactic shock and it was a neighbor (I didn’t know them) up the block. Our EMS was all volunteer. Additional people showed up in their own cars before the ambulance got there. I was so thankful. I was in middle school and it was so scary.
snowflakes__@reddit
I’m a first responder. One time a call dropped at the gas station we were hiding behind. We rolled to the front like “surprise!”
Longest? Pfff probably 20 minutes to respond? We had to go from one side of town clear to the other because no one else was available. Keep in mind this is response time from dispatch so the call could have been pending for longer
dumbandconcerned@reddit
It was \~20 min I believe. (Though it seemed like ages at the time. I was fine, broken shoulder, but they didn't want to move me because they thought their might be spinal damage.) Which is pretty good considering the hospital is pretty much exactly 20 minutes from there. It was actually really cute in retrospect because my cat came and curled up right by the hurt shoulder and started purring to keep me company while I waited.
External-Prize-7492@reddit
In my city it’s like 3-5 min. Usually, the cops arrive first, then the EMTs.
Neuvirths_Glove@reddit
Within a minute or two. Was riding bicycles with a social group (basically a pub crawl) and an inebriated guy who'd lost his license and had been drinking for a while at a bar we stopped at decided to join us on his crappy-ass WalMart mountain bike. There was a pretty steep downhill on the route and he got going too fast. I was behind him and saw when his bike went into unstable oscillations before he was thrown and landed on his head. I came up behind him and he was out cold (no helmet either). I called 911 immediately and about the time I rode up to him and started to assess, the ambulance pulled up. Apparently they park in random parking lots all around the city and are maybe just a few minutes from most of the city.
FireRescue3@reddit
It took about 15 minutes, but we live rural. We are first responders, but we needed additional assistance.
We had a forest fire that was getting out of hand. We were fighting it with what we had, but it was moving faster than we could.
The brotherhood showed up and saved us and our neighbors.
pherring@reddit
I live in a sleepy little town with just under 10,000 people in it. Generally a non emergency call is under 10 minutes and emergency calls under 5. Right this instant the roads are trash because we got a bunch of snow so might be a little longer.
This past summer there was a shooting with injury in front of my store. Cops were there in 3 minutes from my initial call.. (I called twice because at first I didn’t think there were any injuries)
Ambulance was there probably 2 minutes later. Within 10 minutes highway patrol showed up. Along with a detective and a supervisor.
FormerlyDK@reddit
In a small city, it took about 5 minutes.
Senior-Cantaloupe-69@reddit
In Seattle, it’s hours. For a hit and run in my town outside of Seattle they won’t show up at all. They tell you to file a report online
sluttypidge@reddit
Well, for the patient threatening to throw fists at us like 2 minutes.
To request a tresspass like 5.
My car accident, I don't know, it's all a big blur. The firetruck showed up before them.
Dudeus-Maximus@reddit
I live a ways out in the woods.
About 45 minutes has been their fastest response time so far. This was a buttdial 911 call that they responded to. No idea if they would be quicker with someone actually on my end of the call or not.
voteblue18@reddit
About 7 minutes. I live in a NJ suburb about 20 minutes out of NYC. It was a neighboring town’s ambulance so I guess they coordinate together.
miketugboat@reddit
Felt like 10-15 minutes, and I'm pretty sure it was. Took 10 minutes for someone to call 911 though
WeakAfternoon3188@reddit
Depends we're and why. For instance, if you call for them in a rural area, it could be 10 to 15 min wait. If you are calling for law enforcement in the same rural area, 5 min depending on the location of the officer and / or deputy responding.
Impressive-Drag-1573@reddit
I called 911 three times. Once when a hundred students refused to leave the park I worked at. It took the police 2 hours to arrive because they needed to call in backup.
At the same park, I slipped on an icy bank and fell in the frozen, but shallow, pond, hitting my head on the ice. I was in the water, head on the ice, for about 20 min. My hair froze to the ice. It took the ranger from a neighboring state park about 20 min and the ambulance 45 minutes. I’m obviously fine.
The third time, same park, a drunk guy who lived down the road wrecked his ATV, and was thrown about 20 feet. He had obvious head trauma. It took the ambulance 35 minutes. He recovered from a brain bleed.
This is Morgantown, WV. A major university town of about 80k in the county.
The park was 4 miles of interstate and then 2 miles of paved but twisty backroad from town. It took me ~20 minutes to drive from my house in the middle of town to the park.
always-tired60@reddit
I got put on hold once
DocumentEither8074@reddit
They are here in minutes. I’ve had two heart attacks, and both times I had to walk out of my house to the ambulance and climb in. I weigh about 125, it is not like they couldn’t lift the gurney with me on it. It is not like tv, more like slow motion and trying to figure it out as they go. I did survive though and am thankful for all of them and especially my cardiologist.
zoopest@reddit
I found a body floating in the small urban stream on my way to the train station and called and they were VERY fast to respond, less than 10 minutes.
Another time I found a brush fire in a city park and again it was less than 10 minutes for responders to arrive.
FishingWorth3068@reddit
I’m in the suburbs of a capital. My mom freaked out at the smoke alarm once and called 911 while watching our kid and 3 fire trucks got to the house in 3-4 minutes. I do live 6 minutes from a hospital though so really depending on the emergency I don’t know that I would call an ambulance.
Capri2256@reddit
Once I explained that a gun was involved, 10 minutes.
Pabst_Malone@reddit
Had to call forestry for a hay fire on an adjacent property. It was about 2.5 hours before they made it out.
inspctrshabangabang@reddit
Under three minutes the last two times. One was an ambulance and the other was police. Granted, for the police, I called the non emergency line first and was on hold for an hour.
just_had_to_speak_up@reddit
Took them 5 minutes to call me back after I gave up waiting for 911 to answer. Then another two hours to arrive.
cawfytawk@reddit
Depended on the nature of the call. Fire department arrived in 5 minutes for a gas leak. When I called about a naked trespasser running through my building screaming, it took 20 minutes for police to show up. When I called about a group of 20-30 people on the street yelling and potentially fighting, police never showed up.
Bluesnow2222@reddit
About an hour last time. I was working night shift at a call center in a decent size city 5 minutes from the medical center- a woman near me had a seizure or something and passed out for about 45 minutes. She woke up right before the emergency folks got there disoriented and with slurred speech- she didn’t even know her name- only that Obama was president. She told them she didn’t want to go to the hospital and they said “ok” and started walking off while me and other coworkers tried to reason with her and the ambulance folks. She returned grateful we had pushed her as apparently she was going through a health emergency and may have died if she hadn’t. I thought it was pretty irresponsible that they were willing to abandon a woman incapable of getting off the floor with clear mental impairment from her episode. They were probably more concerned with whether they were getting paid.
anonanon5320@reddit
I witnessed a potential shooting. Took them 20 minutes. They got lost, then tried to blame me when the Spanish speaker didn’t trust them or want to talk to them and just wanted me to tell them what happened. Only time I’ve dialed 911.
Dialed non emergency a quite a few times though.
Andimia@reddit
About four minutes but we are three blocks from a fire station. My neighbor shot off a roman candle in the street while people were out walking their dogs. Neighbors hid in the house because the fireworks almost hit a lot of people. Their house started on fire. We were banging on the doors to get them to come out they just thought we were pissed about the fireworks. There were a lot of little kids in that house.
I showed the cops the security footage of them lighting it in the street while there were three other people walking by with dogs.
Imaginary_Train_8056@reddit
Called from a highway in the mountains between cities, it took 45 minutes for responders to arrive. They had to shut down the side of the highway the accident was on to then drive up the “wrong” way because the entire highway was divided.
Just_Me_Truly@reddit
I have had great response times (few minutes) and also have had instances where I called and no one answered. Luckily the times when I had great response times were for medical emergencies, while the times when no one answered were for welfare check type calls (gunshots, drunk drivers, fights, burglary).
cbrooks97@reddit
It was just a few minutes, which makes sense since the responding fire station was less than a mile away. Nationally, the average is about 7 minutes, but in some areas it is notoriously much longer.
Inspi@reddit
I was in a car accident across the street from the police headquarters. They got there pretty darn fast lol.
georgia_moose@reddit
It varies. Is this a big city or rural area? How well-staffed is your police department, fire department, EMS, etc. Is it a busy time like New Years and St. Patrick's Day? All of that causes variation.
Itchy_Pillows@reddit
Just realized I have never made a 911 call and I'm almost 60
phxflurry@reddit
I'm a 911 dispatcher in a large city. Just because someone calls 911, it doesn't mean their call will be the highest priority, and response time varies WILDLY.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
What are the highest priority calls?
Jazzvinyl59@reddit
They basically told me in NYC if no one was hurt take care of it ourselves. Worthless.
phxflurry@reddit
Keep in mind that I work for the police department so I have no clue how the fire department prioritizes calls. Generally the highest priority will be in progress violent crimes or just occurred within the past 5 minutes. Threats of violence with weapons present. Some property crimes as well. Roll over accidents, accidents with people trapped or ejected, or where a vehicle catches on fire. Children 7 years old and under who go missing. Any call where the fire department tells us they are staging (waiting for police to make sure it's safe for fire personnel who are not armed.) Workplace injuries that have the potential to be life threatening. Suicidal people who have a plan and the means, but we try to get mental health specialists to go too. This isn't a complete list, and we have a lot of discretion on making a call a priority 1 if we believe it's necessary. But you get the general idea.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the interesting reply.
phxflurry@reddit
You're welcome. I love what I do and am happy to demystify the system for people a little if I can.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
Weird question, but do you have like listen-along? Like the police do?
phxflurry@reddit
Yes! Most communications centers will allow people to do sit ins. Ours does.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
That sounds like it would be very interesting. I'll look into that locally for sure.
Jazzvinyl59@reddit
Was in a vehicle collision in Queens NYC in 2023 and they never came.
the_vole@reddit
I’ve had to call 911 twice in my life, and both times I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly help arrived. Once was in Queens, the other was in an affluent suburb of Columbus
Realistic-Regret-171@reddit
No idea. I was out cold. Wife made the call. Actually she called the neighbor and he made the call.
Bright_Eyes8197@reddit
About 8 -10 minutes where i am
Wild-Breadfruit7817@reddit
Ask Che soon
davidm2232@reddit
I have seen as quickly as 15 minutes and as long as 2 hours. Depends on where you are. That's why you need to be prepared to handle emergencies on your own as much as possible.
calicoskiies@reddit
I work in a medical facility and have called 911 so many times for my patients. It really depends. The fire dept and one of the ambulance companies are less than 5 min away, so it usually takes 5ish minutes for someone to show up. During this time of year tho, it can take longer (10 minutes)due to flu outbreaks in the area.
AndyJobandy@reddit
Detroit, Michigan, about 12 years ago on new years eve there was an angry man walking down the street with a shotgun shooting indiscriminately around him. 2 people called the police. It took around 31 minutes for a squad car to roll down the street with their lights on, before turning them off and speeding away.
UnderstandingDry4072@reddit
Rural small town, summer evening with the windows open, heard a lot of shouting and then gunshots. The dispatcher I spoke to said that they took three similar calls at the same time so they would come check it out. Maybe they came and did a slowmo drive through at some point, but I never saw them, so… ?
Apartment complex on the outskirts of the county seat, elderly lady takes a fall, ambulance arrives in three minutes. Apparently they stage themselves at the Wendy’s parking lot down the road.
Witness a t-bone car wreck on a rural road, state police there from a regional HQ in 6 minutes, ambulance 14.
TrueNefariousness358@reddit
When seconds count, the police are only half an hour away.
Historical-Remove401@reddit
5 minutes- I was roadside.
Novel-Tea-8598@reddit
When I lived in Orlando, I was walking to meet a friend to go kayaking on a lake. This was at the University of Central Florida (UCF), so this walk took me past a couple of frat houses. I saw a bike in the middle of the street, then a guy on his back right at the turnoff to one of the largest of these frat houses. I rushed to him, told him not to move, saw a bit of blood and bruising and that he wasn't able to get up, and called 911. He insisted he didn't need an ambulance and not to call one because he didn't want to pay, but he also couldn't tell me what the date or who the president was. I had no choice.
He did tell me that he was hit by a pickup truck coming out of the frat house. The guy apparently stopped, rolled down the window of his pickup truck, shouted "You okay bro?" and then apologized for leaving because he was going to be late for class. Dude just left him there. When I was on the phone with the emergency dispatcher, another frat brother finally noticed the scene and rushed out with a pillow to give the poor hit-and-run victim, who still couldn't sit up all the way. When I summarized what happened, the frat guy sighed and said "Sounds like Kyle."
It took 25 minutes for help to arrive, which was odd and frustrating. It wasn't even an ambulance - it was a fire truck. I guess all the ambulances had been dispatched, so they had to scramble, but I was worried about them having enough room or medical equipment. I'm not sure what happened after that, but I hope the guy was okay!
prongslover77@reddit
Firefighters are usually trained as first responders too, they likely came first because they were closer not because an ambulance wasn’t available at all
Novel-Tea-8598@reddit
That makes sense! The 25-minute response time was what confused me, though. I'd have thought an ambulance would be closer. Others have told me since that they've heard of that happening, though. This was 2016/17, so I can't quite remember if I ever got a clear answer.
chuckles65@reddit
For some reason fire departments have trouble navigating college campuses, even when they've been there before. I worked at a college in a big city and it was common for the fire truck to get lost responding to a building on campus.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
What a story. You are a good person.
JanaKaySTL@reddit
We are in a city, close to police precincts and a couple firehouses. It took a couple minutes for them to respond to my call. 2 big rigs, an EMT, about 5 police cars, most of them left after a couple minutes. Car fire, thankfully on the driveway, not in the garage. Helpful hint-if you're using a battery charger, take the battery OUT OF THE CAR before hooking it up. 😉
SubieGal9@reddit
Our city FD has an avg response time of 6 minutes. Police are another story. If you want them there quickly you have to mention a gun. I saw a guy getting beat with a baseball bat and stripped in the street and it took over 10 minutes for PD to arrive. I live 5 minutes from the station. Called a different time for shooting and three SUVs were there immediately.
machagogo@reddit
Back in the early 2000s I guess it was we found a lost untagged dog in our neighborhood, so my wife called 411 to get the number for animal control. Only she dialed 911. Police were at our house within maybe 4 or 5 minutes asking me questions.
franktheguy@reddit
I called about 4 weeks ago, they still haven't shown up.
Relaxmf2022@reddit
Fender bender near my house, no injuries, and the cops never even bothered to show up.
two off-duty cops eventually stopped on their way home to help with traffic. After two-and-a-half hours we exchanged numbers and went our separate ways to let insurance sort it out.
Smokinsumsweet@reddit
Super fast where I live. Every call is met with fire, police and ambulance. Fire usually arrives first in my town like 2 minutes with police right behind. Ambulance maybe ten minutes but fire are also EMTs.
Shitp0st_Supreme@reddit
Most recently, it was less than 10 minutes. I was at a suburban gas station less than 15 minutes from our largest metro area and a bystander needed an ambulance. I think it was closer to 4-6 minutes.
Hooked_on_PhoneSex@reddit
Neighbor's house spectacularly caught fire. It took less than 4 minutes for fire and rescue to arrive, 90 seconds for them to put the fire out and 30 minutes to get rapid response to find them housing, gather clothing, shoes and important items from the house, and organize a crisis liaison.
gingerjaybird3@reddit
City of 50k, I’ve used 3 times in my life, none for me thank goodness, but all were very quick. Less than 3 minutes
frog980@reddit
It was about 2am the 5th of July. Machine shed fire right by my house. Volunteer fire department 10 miles away. They were on site in 25 minutes which I thought was impressive due to circumstances. Saved the house and other buildings, the shed was fully engulfed when I was awoken by the power surge.
North_Artichoke_6721@reddit
The first time, only a couple minutes. The other times have been things I witnessed on the highway, but I didn’t stick around.
Meilingcrusader@reddit
It probably took 5-10 min for the ambulance to arrive after my brother called them when I accidentally cut an artery cooking
Hopeful_Cry917@reddit
Depended on the call. We lived about 5 min drive from the firehouse (where the ambulance came from) and I called 911 so much that the paramedics started to recognize me at the grocery store. It usually took about 15 minutes for them to get there but there were times when it took only 10 and once when it was icy and I called because he had broke his arm but I couldn't take him in due to the ice it took nearly 2 hours but they told me that it would take that long and to call back if he lost feeling in his arm or his fingers changed color. When I called because I needed help getting him off the floor it usually took about 20 minutes.
CrabbyCatLady41@reddit
I live in a city, very close to a fire station. My neighbor was violently attacked by a family member and ran to my house. She was bleeding badly. It took about 4 minutes for an ambulance to come. I was able to help her by holding pressure on the worst wounds and keeping her awake and talking, but that was probably the longest 4 minutes of my life. The police and EMS were great.
Ky3031@reddit
I’ve called multiple times over the years
Colorado, 4am- woman screaming for help and banging on my door- 3-5 minutes
LA California, 1pm- Domestic violence between my neighbors, brought the girl into the house, she wasn’t seriously injured, but her boyfriend was banging on our door trying to get her to come out- 3 hours
Carson California 9pm- Domestic violence in hotel room, child involved- 12 minutes
Colorado 3am- Car drove into my house- 5 minutes
dwhite21787@reddit
I witnessed a NJ trooper get hit during a traffic stop on the NJT (sideswipe which tossed him over a guardrail and down a hill) I stopped, as did a car with 2 nurses. The trooper was able to call in “officer down” and it took 4 minutes or so but it was like a movie scene, EVERYONE showed up. He survived with broken ribs and legs.
Altaira99@reddit
I live in a small town in a blue state about a mile from the police/fire station. They get here in five minutes.
alexseiji@reddit
Detroit when I first moved there, voicemail. Detroit 12 years later, they pickup and arrive between 5-30-never minutes.
marklikeadawg@reddit
10 minutes for my emergency.
Dizzy_Description812@reddit
My small town, 20 minutes from the nearest city... it takes 2 to 5 minutes to get the initial response from local police, ambulance, or fire.
Even at 5:30 on a Sunday morning, it only took 5 minutes to get a deputy sheriff here to dispatch a deer I found suffering on the side of the road after being struck by a car. That was not a 911 call. I called the non emergency number.
buginmybeer24@reddit
Last time I called it was over 30 minutes.
IanDOsmond@reddit
We had a house fire once. It is hard to remember exact details, but I think it was maybe three minutes. The fire station is right around the corner.
The kitchen was a complete loss, but insurance paid for it, and there were no injuries to humans or animals.
KaBar42@reddit
So, I have helped respond to a couple of incidents before.
The two that sticks out in my mind.
Summer of 2022, I was the first responder to a two car collision, truck vs truck. I called the police because one of the individuals was injured. The injured individual stayed at the scene, the other driver, who was likely drunk based off a couple of things, fled the scene. Initially he had attempted to do so in the vehicle, but the collision had destroyed the wheel and axle and thus truck was essentially completely immobilized. I had made note of this and so I was already suspicious when I noticed he was slowly edging himself away from the scene. When I went over to try and talk to him and make sure he was okay (We were struggling to communicate as he only spoke Spanish) he began to run away. Unfortunately, he got away from ducking into a car yard and the employees thought I was the one fleeing and bradished some sort of club at me. At that point, the cops had shown up, about five minutes after the crash. I was cut lose, but I later met the victim in a nearby gas station a few weeks later and he told me they had found the guy.
In fall of 2023, I was once again the first responder to a two car collision. Three individuals in a Ford SUV vs. a Jeep pickup. One of the individuals in the Ford was unconscious, but the two in the Jeep and the remaining two in the Ford were able to extricate themselves under their own power, after checking to ensure that there was no leaking fuel or fires in either of the vehicles that would require the emergency removal of the unconscious passenger, I called 911. While attempting to relay information to the dispatcher, the two conscious occupants from the Ford and the two occupants of the Jeep began verbally sparring with each other (which was doubly useless, as the two Ford occupants only spoke Spanish and the two Jeep occupants only spoke English) and squaring up for a potential fight with me in the middle trying to get both groups to back off from each other while also asking the dispatcher to send an ambulance for the unconscious Ford passenger. Thankfully, I was able to get the Ford occupants to go wait by their car with hand gestures, and it took me a few more minutes to calm the Jeep occupants down and get them to also move away from the Ford occupants. I would estimate that in this instance, it took, somewhere between five to ten minutes for police to show. Probably not a full ten minutes, but a little longer than five minutes.
In another instance, around 2018, I came across an American flag that someone had cut off a flagpole and thrown in a ditch and then lit on fire. I called emergency services because it was summer and very dry and I had nothing to put the small fire out with. The fire department showed up within five minutes and the police showed up just a few minutes later. The firemen simply stomped the fire out on the flag and the police took my statement and cut me lose.
HebrewHammer0033@reddit
When seconds count.....the police are minutes away. Too many variables to answer this. To specifically answer your question, for me it has been both, quick and painfully long.
Jen_the_Green@reddit
Called for a kid that fell off playground equipment and was unconscious with a clearly broken arm. Ambulance arrived within five to ten minutes. This was in an urban area.
My family lives in a very rural area and pays for life flight. Nobody is coming if you have an emergency otherwise. We only have had to use it once so far and they were there within 20 minutes.
DGlen@reddit
Small town was 10-15 minutes in the middle of the night
unclestinky3921@reddit
During a weekday somebody rang our doorbell. By the time my female roommate got to the door the perp broke the window and tried to gain access. It took about 1/2 an hour for the cops to show up.
_aaronroni_@reddit
In 2008 I was shot while delivering pizza. I called 911 and in less than two minutes, probably closer to one, the area was swarming with police. About 5 minutes for the ambulance to show up. God it felt like forever though
KoalasAndPenguins@reddit
I currently live next door to the fire station. I've been told they've been at my house in less than 1 minute before. It's an awkward conversation. "Hi Neighbor! Don't panic. Your husband found you unconscious in the living room and called 9-1-1. He's finding a babysitter and will meet you at the hospital. He asked that we make sure you are aware that you have your phone and wallet in your pocket. By the way, the new grass in your front yard looks wonderful." Before living in this house, response times were 5-7 minutes in a suburban community.
diabetes_says_no@reddit
Quickest: Texted 911 to report that my neighbor had came home since the SWAT Team searched his home a couple hours prior and didn't find him. He shot and killed someone a few hours prior. There were about 20 cop cars there within 5mins.
Slowest: Still waiting on a phone call from a detective after reporting a thief stealing my wallet out of my car and using all my credit cards 4yrs ago. I gave them video footage of the crime happening, video footage of them using my card at the gas station down the street, the theif's name and address since they purchased several things online to ship to their home which was just around the corner and across the street from the gas station they used my card at, and i even found a photo of him that matched with a matching name on facebook amd instagram because dummy didnt covwr his face and looked at my ring canera. Literally did all the work for them, all they had to do was look at my info and they could've arrested him.
Reverend_Bull@reddit
Two days and a threat to "handle it on my own." Ruaal sheriff response to a house burglary. Urban cop response to my car's tires being stolen was about 3 hours
donner_dinner_party@reddit
My daughter has epilepsy so I’ve had to call her an ambulance a couple times when she has a bad fall from a seizure and hits her head. It’s always been apx 5-10 minutes. Never more than 10. They have always been amazing.
Begle1@reddit
I've called 911 twice. Both times I got a busy signal, figured I'd let somebody else deal with it, and never called again.
BigMacRedneck@reddit
7 minutes
SageInTheShade@reddit
Depends on where you are and how busy they are.
TheRealRollestonian@reddit
I had two incidents with extremely low blood sugar (medication) a couple of years ago, and they were there within ten minutes both times.
General suburbia.
WatermelonMachete43@reddit
Depends what I've called for. So far it's ranged from 10 minutes to maybe an hour.
maybach320@reddit
I live in a suburb and it was 2AM but about 5 minutes.
asyouwish@reddit
Not me. But I know the story well.
It was early 00s and in a sh!thole small town, but like 18 minutes (should have been about 3, small town).
His aunt used to listen to a scanner when puttering around the house. She heard the whole thing. They went to a Drive instead of a Lane (or something like that) and we're in the wrong part of town.
His wife didn't make a complaint because she felt he was gone by their 3mins anyway.
Alarmed-Atmosphere33@reddit
I live in a relatively large city, and it took them about a half hour or more for them to arrive. I dislocated my kneecap and couldn’t stand. They had to give me fentanyl, dilaudid, and versed
Alarmed-Atmosphere33@reddit
But also 911 was called when a lady passed out in our city, ems literally saw her and drove by. It was in the negatives in a snowstorm. She died next to the bus stop
Agitated-Wave-727@reddit
Home invasion large southern city 8 minutes.
Medical emergency smaller Midwest city 15 minutes.
DianneDiscos@reddit
5 mns or less
BrazilianButtCheeks@reddit
It varies wildly by the city you live in but for me it would be 5-10 mins
Previous-Yak-2510@reddit
Within about a minute, multiple emergency services arrived.
somearcanereference@reddit
I lived in a big city, about a mile from a fire station. Paramedics arrived within 10 minutes of a call.
It's likely they respond more quickly to actual fires and accidents and whatnot. When it was the weekly-ish call from my older, disabled roommate, who'd taken a 3am fall and called 911 for help getting up? Not exactly top of the priority list.
Whether my then-roommate should have been regularly calling emergency services when she really needed to be in an assisted living facility... that'd be a different post.
WhySoSerious37912@reddit
Moderate sized military community (outside post), experienced a home robbery around 3am. Took about an hour to respond. About 2 months later he was caught robbing an elderly woman in the middle of the night. He lived a couple houses down from me. It was so close to me having my baby. Every second waiting was terrifying.
XainRoss@reddit
I live in the sticks, the nearest police response would be at least 15 minutes. If you need medical attention you're better off getting someone to drive you to a hospital than wait for an ambulance. We do have a volunteer fire department(s) locally that respond to fires and accidents. They'll probably get there first but even those take some time to respond because unlike paid departments there aren't always people waiting at the station for a call.
Competitive-Fee2661@reddit
This just happened to me last week when my mother went in to diabetic shock. It took about three minutes for police to arrive and another five minutes for the paramedics. This was in central New Jersey.
Kindly-Discipline-53@reddit
I'm disabled and have various health issues. I've called 911 several times over the last 10 years or so and they've always arrived within a few minutes.
Deathnachos@reddit
Can see the fire department from work. Had to call for an old lady once and they took like 15 minutes. Other than that they are usually very quick.
Appropriate-Food1757@reddit
I don’t know but my alarm went off and nobody booped it off and cops were in my yard in like 2 minutes, it was incredible.
jb7823954@reddit
Three years ago my partner had a stroke and died suddenly. He was only 28 and it was completely unexpected.
I called 911 and they were at the house in 6 minutes. I was doing chest compressions almost the entire time per the instructions of the 911 operator.
I will forever be changed by my loss, but I will also be forever grateful that the first responders arrived as soon as they did. Because every minute counts in those situations. I know now that he couldn’t be saved— he had major artery blockage — but if the first responders had been slower I would have spent my whole life wondering if only they had come sooner. I am grateful that I don’t wonder that, because the response was as swift as it could possibly have been.
CO_Renaissance_Man@reddit
1 minute for fire but the station was 4 blocks away and 5 minutes for the EMTs.
Hit and run on me, a pedestrian.
krycek1984@reddit
This is a difficult question to answer due to peoples perception of time in moments of crisis.
When I found Dad dead, and I called 911, it simultaneously felt like an eternity and an instant regarding when they arrived.
For more normal stuff, it varies greatly. What city/jurisdiction you're in, how busy is it, what is the severity of the incident... Peoples answers are going to be all over.
Prowindowlicker@reddit
Well given I live in the 5th biggest city in the country, the response time is pretty damn fast.
However when I lived out in the country the response time was 20+ minutes.
SpeedyHAM79@reddit
When I lived in Hastings, MN and called 911 a police officer was in my house in about 2 minutes, EMT's were there about 1 minute later, Fire department about 2 minutes after that. If it wasn't for that response time my son would likely be dead. He had a seizure and stopped breathing- the EMT's injected something that made him start breathing again. Ambulance ride and ER after that, hospital stay for a few days. Painful memories.
lagingerosnap@reddit
I was a 911 operator for ten years, and I currently work in the fire department. A few factors affect your response time: 1) the severity of your emergency. Medical emergencies are classified by urgency (most jurisdictions use Echo, Delta, Charlie, Bravo, Alpha classification). For example, a full cardiac arrest with no breathing no pulse and cpr being given would be top priority echo response and get lights sirens closest unit, police sent as well etc. multiple agencies (police, fire and ems) would be dispatched to these types of calls so the closest first responder can arrive to assist and so there is more manpower to take over cpr. Something less urgent like a possibly broken wrist might get a bravo classification and no lights/sirens and less units. Police emergencies get lumped into categories such as in progress (we called that -31), just occurred (within 10 minutes) and reporting a past incident. So a burglary in progress would get an immediate dispatch, whereas reporting damage to your car that happened last week might get delayed for a few hours. 2) where your emergency is located. If you live in the sticks… it might take a while unfortunately. The jurisdiction is worked for had few and far fire departments in the northern section, and unfortunately that meant longer response times. Price you pay for space. However, sometimes you’ll luck out and a unit was just chillin around the corner. Dispatchers will send the closest available unit to your location. 3) the weather. Of course emergency services will do all they can to get to you, however there are limitations on the equipment. Generally sustained winds over 50mph aren’t safe for fire equipment to drive in, and if there are flood waters or snow over a certain height, specialty equipment is needed. Snowstorms and hurricanes are fairly common response limiting events. 4) is it safe - fire and medical responders are not equipped to handle incidents involving weapons or violence (nor should they) so often they will stage until police arrive and clear the scene as safe. 5) how busy is it? If everyone else is calling too, the calls are prioritized by severity and less pressing matters are delayed. So an active fight with three people injured is going to be more pressing than a call to report mail fraud, if that makes sense.
When you call 911, the operator is sending help while they are getting your information. Answer as many questions as you can- it isn’t going to delay anything. If you do not have a life or death emergency and no one is in immediate danger, I encourage you to look up your local jurisdiction’s non emergency dispatch number! They will still send help, but it leaves the emergency lines open for callers with more pressing matters.
twiggyrox@reddit
My neighbor's garage caught on fire and I never got through. Apparently other people did though
lawanddisorderr@reddit
I’m in a major city and I called 911 because someone was trying to break into my home. It took about an hour and a half for them to arrive.
notyogrannysgrandkid@reddit
The only time I called 911 was in Portland, OR outside the Schnitzer Concert Hall. A lady standing behind me in line to see Belle and Sebastian started having a grand mal seizure. There were paramedics there within 4 minutes, I think. I put her in a recovery position after the seizure passed and she was awake by the time they rolled up.
x36_@reddit
valid
TheReadyRedditor@reddit
Less than five minutes when it was obvious I wouldn’t get to the hospital on time with a very fast labor. Less than five when my heart went crazy at the doctors office and he made them take me to the ER 25 miles away. Tbf, both times it was a small town volunteer crew, so not a lot of calls come their way.
Sleepygirl57@reddit
Just long enough I had drug my OD son off his bed and started a chest compression. Cops and EMT were at my elbow pulling me out of the way. Probably helps we can see fire station lights from our bedroom window.
Distinct-Field-9443@reddit
Rural area but we all constantly vote to increase the fire budget. I called a week ago they made it in under 5 minutes had me in the er in 35 minutes. It was for my kid.
I’ll be voting an increase in budget for fire again in the future. I also vote to increase police budgets.
NoCountryForOld_Zen@reddit
I'm a first responder.
It's completely different for every county. It once took me 2 hours to reach a scene when I worked a rural EMS station and it took me generally around 8 minutes in a major city that I worked in. Another time in the city, I arrived in 10 minutes but I waited outside the building for 30 minutes because the call was for a stabbing and I'm 100% not walking into an apartment with a guy in it who's going around stabbing people without a lot of police officers present. And sometimes in that city it'd just be busy. I had to transport one patient to a specialty hospital and I was dispatched to a call when I turned the patient over and it took me 45 minutes to get back into the district and I was still somehow the closest available unit to a bad 911 call.
rando435697@reddit
Not to be a dick here and at the risk of doxing myself. Where are you located? Texas?
My exhusband runs a state police swat team and while there’s an element of waiting, they’re also not waiting around while people get stabbed as part of their training—they’re going in to neutralize the threat and move on. I fully support having back up…but living with yourself as an officer while people are getting murdered?
illthrowawaysomeday@reddit
I've called the non emergency number and gotten cops in about 1-2 minutes, but I'm very close to a small substation.
OwslyOwl@reddit
I was put on hold when I called 911 in Washington DC in 2005. My friend was having a grand mal seizure and I didn’t know what to do other than stand there on hold. I forgot how long I was on hold, but when the dispatcher came on the phone, she told me to keep my friend on her side and wait for paramedics. Then she said she needed to end the call. I think it took about 15 minutes for paramedics to arrive.
When I dislocated my shoulder in Virginia while alone, it took paramedics about 15 or 20 very long minutes to arrive.
Sapphire_Dreams1024@reddit
About 15 minutes. Called because I needed to take my grandma to the hospital
CaliAv8rix@reddit
You guys can get through to 911???
sneeds_feednseed@reddit
I live near downtown Denver. A woman OD’d behind my apartment and the ambulance got here like five minutes after I dialed 911. She was conscious and talking to the paramedics very soon after their arrival
turquoisecat45@reddit
I’ve called emergency services a few times. It seems (and makes sense) that calls where someone is at risk of harm are responded to first. One time I called because I saw two people getting into an argument in front of my apartment and I had reason to think it was going to become physical. But while on the phone, the people in the argument drove off. I was told by the dispatcher they didn’t know when the police would get there. They got there after the people left and it was the first time I ever called emergency services so I felt a bit embarrassed. But the police took note of all the information I could give them in case a similar event happened in the area with the same people.
Another time I called emergency services because I found a loved one unresponsive on the floor. I think I knew what happened but I called emergency services anyways because it was better to be safe than sorry. The paramedics were dispatched immediately and got to the place before I was off the phone. But in this case, someone was unresponsive for whatever reason and the person’s life could have been in danger. Luckily, my loved one was fine and just drank a bit too much and didn’t eat all day (still can’t believe that happened) so nothing more had to be done.
So at least where I am, the more urgent the call is (if anyone is at risk of harm for any reason) are more likely to be a high priority call and therefore help will get there faster.
pambloweenie@reddit
I thought I was going to get mugged at work one day. Called the cops, they said someone was on the way, no one ever showed up… But other times I’ve called for various other reasons, within 10 minutes.
DRmonarch@reddit
20 minute response when a drugged out guy punched through a neighbor's window, 12 minute response when a guy pistol whipped another.
MunitionGuyMike@reddit
Live in a bigger city at the time.
Alarm company called my dad and I saying our house was being broken into. At the same time, they called the police.
We were out at the time doing stuff and didn’t arrive home until an hour later.
The police showed up half an hour after we got home.
The police station is 2 miles away 🤦♂️
Liminal_Creations@reddit
When I was a kid my brother broke his ankle late at night out slipping on ice in rural NY and neither of our parents were home. We called for an ambulance and it took 4 hours for it to arrive because they couldn't find the road we were on. We were literally about to just load him into our neighbor's car by the time it finally showed up
DadooDragoon@reddit
Depends on what the emergency is and how slammed they are.
Medical emergency? Usually within minutes.
Safety emergency (someone breaking in your house, trespassing, whatever)? I've had them straight up not show up. Just covered in the other dude's blood but don't worry, we'll send you a case number.
So if you need an ambulance, it's probably a good idea to call 911. If someone breaks into your house, best bet is take care of business and then call 911 for your case number.
haleydeck27@reddit
My daughter had a choking episode when she was about 5 weeks old, cops, EMS and firefighters all arrived within about 2 minutes. Cops were there first in about 45 seconds but we live down the street from the police station so made sense.
yfce@reddit
2 minutes max both times
auntiecoagulent@reddit
I live in a very small town appropriately 4 blocks from the fire/EMS station and about 6 blocks from the police station, so about 2 minutes
AnalysisNo4295@reddit
When I was young it was the first time I ever called 911 for a personal emergency. I called due to a light bulb in our family bathroom that quite literally exploded in my face. I didn't know if it caused a fire but I saw sparks and it blackened the area. I had glass in my hands but not my face shockingly it blew down and I moved just in time. The wait was a bit larger about 20 minutes and it's the first time my family who had been living there for over 10 years at the time found out that the listed address was not the correct physical address. For whatever reason the mailbox had been replaced and the numbers for the last 2 were put on the mail box backwards. So for years we thought the address was something different. The home was purchased by family who held the deed and never went to the property so for YEARS we were putting the address wrong on mail and everything and no one pointed it out because that's what the mailbox indicated. However, due to me freaking out the dispatch had to trace the call and they traced it to a pinpoint on the map which did not match the mailbox. So if it wasn't for the fact that I had moved outside and by the mailbox, waving down the emergency vehicle-- they would have completely missed me because the pinpoint didn't show the correct address to the mailbox.
After 20 years we officially sold the property a few years back and had to list that the property had been listed incorrectly for a little over 20 years and the person who owned the deed got slapped with a fine for it. It wasn't a large fine but it was a chunk taken out of the final sale of the home for Title 18 violation "producing false address" which in normal circumstances would be about $250,000 but since we had practically "gotten away with it" for so freaking long the fine got reduced to a slap on the risk fine of nearly the entire sale so the home that was once purchased for close to $150,000 had a final sale 20 years later of a little less than $9,000 profit. Which was used to finish out other bills. So the final overall profit was like less than $3,000. It was a big problem that for 20 years I was like "no one seemed to care" because no one did but ohhhh they cared once we sold the property. Now whenever I see my address wrong I'm like "You need to change that."
1singhnee@reddit
Three minutes- the fire department is a mile away.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
When I lived in the city and needed one, it took about 5 minutes, but at the time I lived in a gated apartment complex. Luckily all emergency vehicles there were equipped with some sort of universal override for most of the complexes.
Where I live now, in a smaller town, it takes less than 2 minutes for most areas, but no more than 5 for the entire town. FD showed up at my house in about 1 minute on Thanksgiving when I had a small fire in my kitchen.
PoliticalJunkDrawer@reddit
Where I live in the suburbs, if it is something serious, you will basically have an Army company at your door within minutes.
My little shack in the country, the Sheriff might make it out, might not.
Greeneyesdontlie85@reddit
Too long … felt like forever maybe 15 minutes
Key-Elderberry-7271@reddit
Under 4 minutes. Nice neighborhood 👌
Maronita2025@reddit
My mom who lives in a town that is only 1.1 square miles and has 18k residents called 911 when my dad had a stroke. The 911 operator told her "Call us back when he gets worse. We are to busy right now." Her and my brother was rightly upset by this. My brother happened to look out the window and saw an ambulance. He ran out and flagged them, and took my dad to the hospita.
MrKahnberg@reddit
As I recall it's been as fast as they get to me. The last time i managed to dislocated my hip, again, downtown. A stranger ran over and called EMS. The firetruck was there in a few minutes and the ambulance soon after. So, about the best I could hope for.
Complete-Finding-712@reddit
Made over a dozen last year. It wasn't a good year. Usually 2-5 minutes for fire dept, 5-10 max for ambulance.
FarmerExternal@reddit
The only time they’ve ever actually come it was an ambulance, about 10-15 minutes
Taffr19@reddit
When I thought I was dying from what I found later to be a kidney stone the ambulance was at my front door in 3 minutes.
QuarterObvious@reddit
My wife had a pulmonary embolism (blood clots blocked an artery) and cardiac arrest. It happened at home—almost always fatal. Fortunately, I was in the same room and called 911. They entered our house while I was still on the phone with the 911 operator. It probably took them 2–3 minutes to arrive. They saved her
7yearlurkernowposter@reddit
They don't even answer the phone let alone arrive.
Wish I was joking.
Fert_Reynolds@reddit
Also in STL, can confirm
amymari@reddit
I called 911 for an overall minor traffic accident (cars weren’t drivable, but no one was hurt). And I’d say they got there in like 5 minutes or less? But I live in a major metropolitan area, and we were near a major highway.
SimpleAd1604@reddit
I think it was 4-5 minutes but it seemed like forever.
Nordwithoutacause@reddit
miami beach took about 10-14 minutes too long resulted in my uncle dying of his heart attack in front of me. not to mention they took their sweet fucking time getting out and into my house
OceanBlueRose@reddit
Back home in NY it was about 3-4 minutes. I haven’t tried to call in Ohio, but I’ll let you know if I do 😂
ZombiePrepper408@reddit
I found a homicide and it took police 45 min to get there
I bought my first gun a month later
holiestcannoly@reddit
The last time I did, maybe not even two minutes
willk95@reddit
Within 5 minutes after I got in a car accident
BankManager69420@reddit
I worked in loss prevention so I called them daily. Anywhere from 2-5 minutes. Getting on the phone in the first place on the other hand would sometimes take up to 8 minutes on hold.
gofindyour@reddit
I saw a car pull up on my dead end street in front on my house. The man in the car was beating the hell out of a woman. I called and cops pulled up like literally 20 seconds later, in a small town north of Birmingham.
Sensitive_Maybe_6578@reddit
Fast. I called for emergency medical when my daughter was six ish months old. She is and was fine. A huge fire engine pulls up to our house, and our doorway was filled in either four giant firefighters in full gear, carrying equipment. They were so cool. But I live in the city, about two miles from this station. We’re lucky.
docfarnsworth@reddit
Ive called or had people call twice in chicago. Both times were in like 5 minutes.
RoommateSearcher99@reddit
Got assaulted a block away from my old place in Brooklyn just over a year ago, took the police about 45 minutes to show up
TheUnpopularOpine@reddit
I’m a firefighter in a state capital, probably 50% of my calls start with “wow you guys got here so fast”. That being said it varies a lot, especially if you’re in a rural community.
Lesbianfool@reddit
About 2 minutes from placing the call. That said I’m within running distance of the station. I used to be able to run to the station from home and catch the first due rig when the tones dropped
LiveMarionberry3694@reddit
Where im at now police are quick to come out.
We had a suspicious guy walking around the neighborhood a few months ago and I called the non emergency number. About 5 minutes later two police cars rolled by
flossiedaisy424@reddit
I’ve called 911 a lot at my place of work. If I’m calling for an ambulance, they arrive in under 5 minutes. If it’s police, I’m surprised if they show up at all.
anntchrist@reddit
About 10 minutes. Pretty impressive given that I was on a trail away from main roads and they had to walk in from a parking lot.
jayyy_0113@reddit
I attempted suicide, took about 5-8 minutes from the time I texted my mom goodbye to the time EMTs arrived. This was on top of a mountain too.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
What mountain?
jayyy_0113@reddit
The exact location would dox me but I live in appalachia
FloppedTurtle@reddit
Fastest was four minutes. Slowest was around 45 minutes.
First responders move as fast as they can and prioritize if they receive a lot of calls. The US is just a big place with a lot of people and patchy medical access, and until they can break the laws of physics, sometimes they just don't make it in time.
imissaolchatrooms@reddit
Buffalo NY: Ambulance EMT about 7 minutes, Fire 5 minutes, Police don't respond.
Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit
Never
Spyderbeast@reddit
Small town, fire department is about a mile. I'd say within 5 minutes
It just seemed longer (Neighbor house caught fire, and I was terrified it would spread to my house)
elcaminogino@reddit
10 minutes
AshDenver@reddit
6-10 min. Ambulance and fire truck when his appendix burst. He was feverish, disoriented, incoherent.
Forward-Wear7913@reddit
It really does depend. In my city, it can vary greatly.
If it’s a health emergency and you call 911, the ambulance and fire department tend to show up within a few minutes. I had a fire and they were there in about three minutes.
One time, there was someone threatening to shoot someone. It took them about 15 to 20 minutes for them to actually approach the person. They gathered four police cars on the side of the road before they would address the situation.
When we had someone doing some vandalism in 2023, it took over an hour.
Other times, for even simple noise complaints late at night, they’d be there in 5 to 10 minutes.
Easy_Philosophy_6607@reddit
Widely depends on the area. Last time I called 911, which was less than 2 months ago, was when someone got hit by a car outside my house. Response time was about 3 minutes. I live in a city of about 45000.
I called 911 a few weeks earlier in a rural area while working. The dispatcher told me my detective buddy was on his way but was at the station, which was 35 minutes away. So while he left immediately, I was waiting for a while. I asked the dispatcher to stay on the phone with me as if that would somehow prevent me from being murdered by people high on meth. She did, and spoiler alert, I wasn’t murdered. The town I was in has a population of about 500 people.
I was working in another slightly less rural area once of about 12000 people. Called 911 twice. They just never showed. I was taking protective custody of some kids for severe physical abuse. Mom said she wasn’t letting me take them without the police. I said look, I called them twice, they clearly not coming, so these kids are leaving with me.
I once called the non emergency number for an officer to come out so I could force a mom to make a missing persons report on her 5 year old that she just told me had been gone for 3 weeks. It was over 4 hours before an officer got there. There was no reason for that.
Dandibear@reddit
3.5 min. We're pretty close to the station.
TexasPrarieChicken@reddit
There’s something commonly said about the police when it comes to self/home defense.
When seconds count, they’re minutes away.
the_owl_syndicate@reddit
I live out in the country. One time, when I was a teenager, we had a minor mishap with the pitch fork. It was faster to drive 30 miles to the nearest hospital with someone holding a flannel shirt over a severed artery than it was to wait for the ambulance.
In the city? Most of the time, only a few minutes. If someone were bleeding out in the city, I would call 911.
Over-Marionberry-686@reddit
42 minutes. We knew he wouldn’t make it but we were almost 50 miles from anywhere.
Plus_Carpenter_5579@reddit
I've only ever done this once. 1990s Jersey City. Nighttime, A guy was hit by a car, went up in the air and landed on his head. Police 30 seconds. Ambulance 60 to 90 seconds.
Extreme_Chemical853@reddit
Shit when I lived in nc I lived with my ex and his family at the time who were crack/meth heads (I was 18 and stupid, and idk why I kept myself in that situation). One night his brother who was drunk and has a TBI was raging out and held a gun to their sisters head, so we called the cops because the sisters kids were there 9 and 13 at the time and the situation needed to be calmed down. It no shit took them at least half an hour to get there. But to be fair the cops hated them so they probably didn’t care to take any calls from their residence seriously, and I can’t blame them because they were always on the most ridiculous bs and when the cops would show up they would all just lie and defend eachother.
There was one time we had to call the cops because the same brother had the mom who was like 65 by her neck up against the wall with her feet off the floor. The mom completely lied and told the cops me and my boyfriend at the time were lying. So yea really can’t blame the cops for not taking it seriously.
VTHome203@reddit
I would say 7-10 minutes, but I was in shock. It could have been 15.
WolverineJive_Turkey@reddit
Last time I called about an hour and a half in a city. But I wasn't a pressing issue. The operator stayed on the line with me the whole time.
stewiesaidblast@reddit
About 2 minutes, but I was in the middle of a medium sized town
Red_Beard_Rising@reddit
Only had to do it once. I was in my bank's entryway using the ATM late one night. The doors from the street required a swipe of your debit card to get in (It was on the corner of Clark & Halsted in Chicago).
The doors were beat up and I could not get back out. The lever would not open the door. I tried calling the bank first. I knew it was unlikely I would find help at the corporate customer service number at that hour. I just didn't feel it was that much of an emergency for 911 to be my first call.
I called 311 first and they told me to call 911. In both conversations I was calm. This was not freaking me out at all. I explained the situation. I can't remember how long I waited, but it was faster than I expected given the non-life-threatening circumstances.
The fire department was all ready to break down the doors with their axes. Then one fireman said, "Hold up!" He also banked there and pulled out his debit card and swiped it. The door opened.
When I came out, he told me, "I so wanted to break that door down." I jokingly told him I can go back in. He laughed and asked me not to.
Designer-Pound6459@reddit
I've only called 911 once in my life. It took 4 minutes for the paramedics and firetruck to show up. They saved my friends life. Sadly she only stayed alive for 12 more days but, she didn't die on the floor in our bathroom.
Any59oh@reddit
I can't speak for cops, but the one time I was around for an ambulance call, they got there as quickly as they could. But it was still ultimately a "we get there when we get there" because we weren't the only emergency and even speeding with lights on they can still only go so fast. Not more than 10 minutes, but as I was the one handling the emergency until they got there, I wasn't keeping a close eye on the clock
thunderclone1@reddit
Pretty quick where I live. Where my friend used to live, there were hours when no police were on duty, so you're on your own til morning or a state trooper eventually shows a couple hours later
Q8DD33C7J8@reddit
Varies depends on what you're calling about. If you call about a shooting or something dangerous then it can be seconds to minutes. If it's about something that's not dangerous but still pertinent like a robbery that's finished but the robber could still be caught then a few minutes. If it's something that happened and there's no chance of catching the criminal then maybe 20-30 minutes. If it's a nonemergency like a argument or vandalism then 30-45 minutes. Anything else like noise complaints are handled through the nonemergency phone number and they will get to it when they can. They always show up but it may take a while.
Appropriate_Copy8285@reddit
Where i grew up, it took the police 3.5 hours to find our house, but paramedics only 2.5. in the city, depending on the situation, usually 5 minutes to 48 hours.
Gladyskravitz99@reddit
I live in a college town and it took less than ten minutes for an ambulance to arrive when we called them for my mother a few years ago.
Playful-Mastodon9251@reddit
Was earlier this year, 4 minutes. From what I've been told anyway, I wasn't fully conscious.
Otherwise-OhWell@reddit
Couple minutes when I discovered my grandpa had died. Early 90s, town of 100k+.
TheLizardKing89@reddit
No idea. I’ve only called 911 once, to report an abandoned building on fire. I told them where it was, they thanked me and told me firefighters were on the way and I was free to go, so I did.
Standard-Outcome9881@reddit
I’m in a suburb and it has taken no more than 5-10 minutes the times I’ve called 911.
shelwood46@reddit
I live in an exurban/touristy area. I had to call EMS once, around 7 am on a Saturday, a couple volunteers responded in their personal vehicles within 5-10 minutes, the state police patrol was right behind, the ambulance itself was a little behind them, maybe 15 minutes, which I expected knowing that EMS & fire is all unpaid volunteers here. They did not charge a cent (some volunteer orgs will bill insurance since they do still have operating costs for equipment and training).
lennoxmatt_819@reddit
Me and a group of guys pulled up to the bar at the same time someone else stumbled out and got behind the wheel, we followed him to 2 other bars who refused him entry, he took off speeding to the next time, we called 911 about 5 times but all the cops were busy so they never sent anyone, he eventually passed out at a bar in the next town over
Primary_Excuse_7183@reddit
Had our first encounter last week. 8 mins in the country. I was impressed
SuLiaodai@reddit
Sometimes it's super quick, and sometimes it takes hours. In 2013, a reporter in Detroit went to the home of a woman who'd just called 911 because of a robbery. He had time to search the home himself (to make sure the robbers were gone, which the woman was scared to do), order McDonalds and have it delivered, take a bath and read a children's book before the cops arrived.
HeddaLeeming@reddit
In the 80s I worked in a convenience store in Houston. Called for robberies and usually took 10 minutes. Once I got put on hold.
Crime has gone down since then. But now I live in Sugar Land, outside Houston. Have only called twice. Once was because the house next door, which was a rental, had lights going on and off at 2am. Didn't know if it was the owner and wasn't going to go find out. I saw the lights when I took out my garbage. Made the call, went to get the recycling and 2 cop cars were already there. Literally couldn't have been 2 minutes.
Another time I was heading home from Houston about midnight on the freeway and some guys were doing wheelies on motorcycles. Almost caused an accident. I was in Houston when I called. The dispatcher told me they'd hand it over to Sugar Land. Thought that was strange as we were still in Houston, but oh well. I stayed on the phone with her and they actually exited at MY exit in Sugar Land. I told her which way they turned (same as me, I was right behind them) and the cops (2) were there and pulled them over on the side street. I have to think they were at every place the guys could have turned. Cop came up to me and told me the wheelies didn't really matter although they would get them for it, but they had warrants so we're going to jail anyway. (I had a dashcam but wasn't contacted. I assume they either didn't fight the tickets once told that, or it wasn't pursued.)
So basically it matters when and where you are. Sugar Land is a lot safer than Houston, and the 80s were a lot more dangerous than today.
aimeerogers0920@reddit
Small town .. about 4 minutes. I prefer a certain hospital that I requested which takes about 30 minutes to get to (other 3 are 7, 15, 20 min away)
captainjohn_redbeard@reddit
45 minutes. It was late at night in the middle of nowhere.
BB-56_Washington@reddit
I'm under a mile from the police station, so it'd be pretty quick for me.
CoralReefer1999@reddit
It depends in a major city it’s supposed to be 5 minutes, but it’s not always.
I live in a major city & the three times in my life I’ve been present when needing to call an ambulance the time waiting was 25 mins(for an unconscious man) 45 mins(for a girl having a heart attack) & 1hour 15 mins(for a kid who slid down a rope that had a tire swing at the bottom that was being held in place by a hook, the hook went through the tire & sliced the poor boys balls open & the insides spilt onto the ground). This happened in the same city with multiple hospitals all these incidents happened within a 15 min max drive from a hospital.
All of these experiences were so traumatic for me because I was having to do what the operator told me to help keep them alive like cpr & applying pressure to a major wound for the entire time I was waiting for help. The wait times were so ridiculous.
When I needed an ambulance for myself after experiencing all those things I called an Uber instead. I messaged the Uber explaining the situation the dude hauled butt to me & to the hospital I got to the hospital in 10 mins total from the time I booked the Uber & it was a 12 minute drive from my location. I gave the dude a good tip & it cost me $65 including tip instead of $5,000 for a possible 1hour 15 minute wait.
Youngadultcrusade@reddit
I’ve only ever called them in a small town and it took like five or ten minutes. It was my tiny hometown and our elderly neighbors smashed their car into our house, fortunately everyone was fine and the damage was minimal.
reyadeyat@reddit
Somewhere between 5-10 minutes for a car vs. pedestrian accident.
GatorOnTheLawn@reddit
It has varied from 10 minutes to 12 hours. Yes, 12 hours. Another time it was 5 hours.
Constellation-88@reddit
I mean it varies widely depending on your region. Shortest time has been probably 5 to 10 minutes for me. Longest has been more like 15 for first cop and 20 for ambulance.
mustang6172@reddit
Less than 5 minutes.
Dull-Geologist-8204@reddit
Let's put it this way. I call friends over the cops if I have a problem.
Tonight my daughter wanted to play a game and wanted me to pretend to be a cop. Apparently she lost her imaginary dog. I kept telling her to go wait in the lobby. I needed to finish paperwork and would call her to take a written statement. An hour later she was like mom you are supposed to be pretending to be a cop. I said I am what do you think they do?
hissyfit64@reddit
In Chicago when there was a brawl in the streets (25 kids involved) about 15-20 minutes.
In the cushy bubble of a suburb where I live now? 3 squad cars in 5 minutes. For teens drinking beer in a camper.
fattymcbuttface69@reddit
When I lived in a "big city" they wouldn't show up unless a violent crime was actively happening. Then I moved to a smaller town and called the non emergency line about some minor vandalism and they were there inside two minutes. In other words, it depends.
Kestrel_Iolani@reddit
Non-emergency in the suburbs, 30 minutes.
AvonMustang@reddit
Where I currently live Fire & Ambulance arrive in 5 minutes - they are part of the township.
Police (Sheriff actually) take 20 - 30 minutes - they are part of the county.
This is why gun control people who say just call the police drive me crazy as a lot can happen in a half hour waiting for the police to arrive...
BullfrogPersonal@reddit
I remember calling 911 near my house one time. This was late at night. The train conductor guy thought that he had hit someone that was walking on the tracks. He split the train so cars could use the road at the crossing. He was freaking out and only talking to his company rep. I was driving home from a friend's place.
I called 911 and it was like they didn't believe me. They were asking me where I live and I told them it was in the old silk mill apartments about 300 feet from the train crossing. Turns out that the guy on the train tracks somehow was not killed. He went under the cow catcher on the front train and it just passed over him. He was scrapped up but ok. The gap under the cow catcher is like ten inches.
It seemed like it took the first cop about ten minutes to show up and then another 5-10 minutes for an ambulance and the fire guys to get there. This wasn't a rural area.
AbominableSnowPickle@reddit
in my hometown, about 1o minutes. Where I work, it can take anywhere between 5 minutes and 45 (or more) just to get to the location...but that's one of the joys of working super rural EMS.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit
I've called a couple of times and it's between 60 seconds and 6 or 7 minutes.
messibessi22@reddit
I feel like they’re usually pretty fast maybe 10 minutes if they’re a a station nearby
dcgrey@reddit
We had an elderly neighbor in decline who needed emergency help a few times before passing away. His wife would call and the first responders would be there in under two minutes, always the nearby firefighters. It would be another ten or fifteen minutes before an ambulance arrived, but I don't know if that's how long it took or if some of that time was the wife and the firefighters determining whether a trip to the hospital for the husband was warranted.
Working-Tomato8395@reddit
In the 5 times I've done it, between 2 and 10 minutes.
chaudin@reddit
My Dad had a medical issue, we called 911 and a fire truck was out front in 5 minutes, with four guys immediately working on him.
Ambulance arrived a few minutes after that.
Eastern-Musician4533@reddit
About three fucking seconds. Tell Seattle PD there's a gun involved and they will dispatch the entire available force. I saw a response of 20 vehicles for a shooting where the guy had already driven away.
minikin_snickasnee@reddit
Under five minutes. But we're three blocks or so, diagonally, from a hospital, so there are always ambulances nearby. We're also not too far from fire station or PD.
Communal-Lipstick@reddit
5 minutes one time and 20 minutes when it wasn't an emergency.
mechanixrboring@reddit
I don't even know. I saw a motorcyclist eat pavement in a rural area on my way to work about 15 years ago and had to call for an ambulance. It felt like an eternity but had to be less than 10 minutes. It's amazing how things seemed to move incredibly fast and incredibly slow at the same time.
SlamClick@reddit (OP)
Adrenaline is an amazing thing.
BurgerFaces@reddit
The police could take 5-20 minutes to show up depending on where they are coming from. The ambulance or the fire department are probably 15+.
keytoitall@reddit
100 seconds or so. Firehouse on the next block, a few of the guys ran over on foot.
RosietheMaker@reddit
Hm, it's been nearly two decades since I've made a 911 call. I think it took about 15 to 20 minutes. It wasn't a necessarily life-threatening situation, but my grandmother had passed out and fallen, and I couldn't pick her back up even though she was very skinny.
Crafty-Shape2743@reddit
City of around 100,000. EMT’s less than 1/2 mile away. Hospital ER less than one minute from origination. EMT response under 10 minutes. We are very lucky.
Gunslinger_247@reddit
Depends. An officer could be right down the road or few miles away.
punkwalrus@reddit
Multiple times, and in every case, only a few minutes. But I live in a dense urban/suburban area.
gingerjuice@reddit
In my town, it takes about 10 minutes.
_banana_phone@reddit
Got put on hold, they never picked up. Some dude ran on foot to the fire department a couple blocks away to get help instead. I live in a major metro.
Spiritual_Lemonade@reddit
Well the fire station is quite literally the next major corner. Let's say about 7 minutes. This was for someone in a medical emergency. That was the fire men with medical bags who got started and then they call for ambulance in my area. You aren't going to get an ambulance by calling 911. Fire or police radio for those in this state.
We had a neighborhood thingy and took at least 45 minutes for local police to show up. It was only sort of urgent.
wise_hampster@reddit
Rural volunteer fire department+ professional fire department took about 5 minutes for trucks and people to start showing up. That was the only time I called 911.
yourlittlebirdie@reddit
Last time I called 911, I got put on hold before anyone answered, so that was fun.
tacmed85@reddit
It's usually pretty fast. Generally the normal response goal most places is under 8 minutes for priority one calls, under 12 minutes for priority two, and under 30 minutes for priority three.
Eric848448@reddit
I’ve only ever had to call once. The fire house was like four doors down so they were pretty fast.
Itsdanaozideshihou@reddit
15 minutes for the sheriff's deputy but since it was a fire he couldn't do anything other than bullshit with us and wait for the fire department.
15-20 minutes again it was a sheriff deputy, again all he could do was wait while we performed triage and waited another 10-15 minutes for the EMT's to arrive and take over.
PhilzeeTheElder@reddit
Dog attacked my neighbor took 15 minutes for Cop to show up, 20 for fire department, 25 for ambulance. But they wouldn't come close because the dog was loose. So fireman drove her to the ambulance. Then 12ish year old kid showed up and said he thought he was having a heart attack and couldn't breathe. Everyone showed up at once in 10 minutes. I live in Northern Michigan in a village of 1,200 people, I'm close to a city of 10,000.
jquailJ36@reddit
Generally ten to fifteen minutes. In the Boston suburbs, longer, out here where I live now usually fifteen minutes. I haven't (thank goodness) had to call the police, but based on where I am they'd probably route it to Tribal if the county wasn't free and they're ten minutes away, tops.
callmeKiKi1@reddit
It seemed like forever, but it was probably only around five minutes as we live less than a mile from a fire station with paramedics. I was doing CPR, so I am not really sure how long it was, time was wonky.
misawa_EE@reddit
I never have, but a neighbor did. 20 minutes until police arrived, about another 10 for EMTs to arrive. We’re 45 minutes outside a city.
Aguywhoknowsstuff@reddit
5-,6 minutes.
Jerentropic@reddit
I've made one 911 call, about 2 years ago, multiple vehicle collision resulting in a vehicle impacting with a brick building; STLPD arrived about 4-5 minutes later.
CPolland12@reddit
The last time, about an hour.
But in their defense there was basically a tornado and I was stuck in an elevator, and probably in the safest place at the time. And prolly other people with more pressing emergencies
Current_Poster@reddit
Ambulance: Inside of a half-hour.
I've never had need for other emergency-services.
PikesPique@reddit
5 minutes
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