What is a Good Intent 911 Call?

DAPHNE Ala.
January 13, 2025
By Rick McCann

Over the weekend, the Baldwin County 911 center received a number of “good intent”911 calls reporting structure fires and vehicle accidents.

Two calls made by different people who were driving by businesses during the overnight hours, reported fires and smoke coming out of closed businesses including a fireworks business and a Home Depot.
In both calls, 911 dispatchers immediately alerted multiple fire departments to respond to those reports of fires.

After arriving on-scene of the reported structure fires, firefighters found that the buildings were not on fire but there was some steam coming from one of the buildings.

These types of calls are not considered “false alarms” but rather “good-intent calls” where the caller believed that they were witnessing an emergency and called 911 to report it.
These calls are different than malicious 911 calls where someone falsely reports an emergency, which is a criminal offense.

911 dispatchers receive good intent calls daily and each call is taken on its face value and considered to be an emergency until otherwise verified that it’s not.

Good Samaritan laws in many states protect good-intent callers from criminal prosecution or civil liability.

Each year, an estimated 240 million 911 calls are made, and in many area, eighty percent or more of those calls are made from a cellphone according to the National 911 Association. 

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