Iowa 911 Call Center Ready for Text Messages

An emergency call center in Black Hawk County, Iowa, of all places, is the first in the United States to accept text messages to 911. Right now, the service is only open to subscribers to i wireless, a local T-Mobile affiliate, and you have to respond to a text message back to relay your location. Anyone else who texts 911 will get a message saying to call instead. Still, thi would come in handy for hearing-impaired callers, or for people in noisy environments or a kidnapping situation. The company that set up the service, Intrado, hopes to add picture and video communication in the future, leaving no disaster unidentified. [AP via Engadget]