JEFFERSON COUNTY — Jefferson County Emergency Telephone Board 911 Coordinator Chris Mendenall announced it has started accepting text–to–9-1-1 service for its territory in Jefferson County, including Mt. Vernon.

Wireless customers can now send a text of up to 140 characters to 9-1-1 in an emergency.

Text to 9-1-1 should only be used in an emergency situation when placing a call is not possible. For instance, if the caller is deaf, hard-of-hearing, speech impaired, or when speaking out loud would put the caller in danger.

If there is an emergency and you are unable to make a call, remember these steps:

Don’t text and drive, in the first text message send the location and type of emergency to 911, text in simple words but without abbreviations or slang. Be prepared to answer questions, and follow instructions from the 9-1-1 call taker.

And remember, don’t abuse the service it’s only for emergencies and it’s a crime to text or call 9-1-1 with a false report. Prank texters can be located.

Mendenall says the Text-to-9-1-1 service will have challenges. A text or data plan is required to place a Text-to-9-1-1, and as with all text messages, messages to 9-1-1 may take longer to receive, may get out of order, or may not be received at all.

If you do not receive a text response from 9-1-1, try to contact 9-1-1 another way.

Photos and videos cannot be sent to 9-1-1 at this time.

Text-to-9-1-1 cannot include more than one person. Do not send your emergency text to anyone other than 9-1-1.

Voice Calls to 9-1-1 are still the best and fastest way to contact 9-1-1

Currently, Text-to-9-1-1 service is not available everywhere in Illinois and the U.S