Social media could be the next "911"

(WPRI) - Emergency authorities are beginning to explore social media sites as a new means of communicating danger.

After a dispatcher received a call from someone across the country reporting a fire, new studies have looked into the effectiveness of social media as an emergency alert method.

According to reports, a disabled man was unable to reach his phone when his stove caught fire. With no other option, he alerted people he was playing a game with online. One of those people called the man's local fire station and reported the emergency for him.

Other reports have shown people trying to alert their local police and fire departments via Twitter and Facebook. However, unless an agency claims to accept tweets and posts, they are not legally obligated to respond.

Recently, a couple of places across the country have added a text-based feature to their response units. However, since the service is limited to a small area, calling 9-1-1 is still the best option.

According to a Red Cross survey, 44% of participants said that they would use social media to alert rescue crews if they were unable to call 9-1-1.