Rescue 911 is an informational reality-based television series that premiered on April 18, 1989 and ended on August 27, 1996. The series was hosted by William Shatner and featured reenactments of emergency situations that often involved calls to 911. Though never intended as a teaching tool, various viewers used the knowledge they obtained watching the show. Two specials, titled "100 Lives Saved" and "200 Lives Saved," were dedicated to viewers who had written to CBS with their stories on how the knowledge they obtained watching the show allowed them to save the life of someone else. At least 350 lives have been saved as a result of what viewers learned from watching it. The show's popularity coincided with the widespread adoption of the 911 emergency system, replacing standalone police and fire numbers that would vary from municipality to municipality. The number is now universally understood in the United States and Canada to be the number dialed for emergency assistance nationwide.
Rescue 911 (Season 1)
Episode 101 (Episode 1)
Air date: 1989-09-05
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Boy swept away in flooded arroyo (June 10, 1988. Albuquerque, New Mexico); Skydiver is knocked unconscious (April 18, 1987. Coolidge, Arizona); Robber takes grocery store employee hostage (August 1, 1987. Elkhart, Indiana); Documentary of New York City firefighters (July 4. New York, New York); Seven-Year-Old girl helps deliver her mother's baby (May 16, 1989. Bartow County, Georgia)
Episode 102 (Episode 2)
Air date: 1989-09-12
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Construction workers trapped upside-down in collapsed cherry picker; Mother must perform CPR on her baby (May 16, 1988. Xenia, Ohio); Toddlers play on tracks as train approaches (May 1, 1989. Ramsey, New Jersey); Teenage car accident victim is treated at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center (Baltimore, Maryland); Teen touches power line with pool pole (May 27, 1989. Houston, Texas)
Episode 103 (Episode 3)
Air date: 1989-09-19
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: High school football player goes into cardiac arrest (November 7, 1986. Springdale, Arkansas); Helicopter rescue of a hiker who fell from a cliff (July 1, 1989. Los Angeles, California); Prospector trapped underwater by boulder (Red River, California); Plane with stuck landing gear (March 12, 1985. St. Augustine, Florida); Burglar trapped in glass store calls 9-1-1 (May 19, 1989. Los Angeles, California)
Episode 104 (Episode 4)
Air date: 1989-09-26
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Bystander attempts to rescue two women trapped in a submerged car (Elkhart, Indiana); Woman stabbed by intruder (October 16, 1988. Lansing, Michigan); Rafter caught in dam's undertow (May 24, 1989. Hamilton, Ohio); Documentary of three patients awaiting organ transplants at Presbyterian-University Hospital (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); Girl swept down storm drain (June 26, 1989. Houston, Texas)
Episode 105 (Episode 5)
Air date: 1989-10-03
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Toddler falls into narrow hole (April 24, 1986. Colts Neck, New Jersey); Helicopter pilot attempts to locate a kidney recipient before the donor kidney expires (March 25, 1989. Glamis, California); Children burned in propane explosion (June 21, 1988. Ellicott, Colorado); Accident sends trucker plummeting over a 40 foot bridge and into a swamp (August 11, 1988. Atchafalaya Swamp, Louisiana)
Episode 106 (Episode 6)
Air date: 1989-10-10
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 107 (Episode 7)
Air date: 1989-10-17
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Spelunker trapped in flooded cave (July 1, 1985. Spring Mill State Park, Indiana); San Francisco neonatal hospital documentary (March 1989. San Francisco, California); A family is robbed at home (February 12, 1989. San Dimas, California); Apartment Fire (San Francisco, California); Girl is accosted by a child molester outside a bowling alley (April 30, 1988. Hayward, California)
Episode 108 (Episode 8)
Air date: 1989-10-20
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 109 (Episode 9)
Air date: 1989-10-27
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 110 (Episode 10)
Air date: 1989-11-07
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Funny car explodes (July 22, 1989. Denver, Colorado); Helicopter pilots use infrered device to track burglary suspect (July 18, 1989. Fort Worth, Texas); Teenager on motorcycle falls off cliff (August 16, 1989. Amarillo, Texas); Elderly couple lost at sea (January 19, 1989. Charleston, South Carolina)
Episode 111 (Episode 11)
Air date: 1989-11-14
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Woman hides from intruders (September. Los Angeles, California); Aerovac documentary-Helicopter picks up victims of a head on collision and a girl kicked in the face by a horse (Phoenix, Arizona); Car accident with downed power lines (July 20, 1989. US Highway 50 in Nevada); Girls lost in the Rocky Mountains (June 10, 1989. Arapahoe, Colorado)
Episode 112 (Episode 12)
Air date: 1989-11-28
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Woman outsmarts her assailant (May 5, 1989. Tucson, Arizona); Dispatcher's husband has heart attack (July 1, 1989. Kingwood, Texas); Cocaine user hijacks ambulance and takes four paramedics hostage (October 18, 1985. West Windsor, New Jersey); Husband must deliver wife's baby (September 3, 1989. Huntington Beach, California)
Episode 113 (Episode 13)
Air date: 1989-12-12
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Woman shot by mentally ill brother (July 20, 1989. Dallas, Texas); New Years Eve fire at a Puerto Rico hotel (December 31, 1986. San Juan, Puerto Rico); Boy performs Heimlich maneuver on choking bother (April 24, 1989. Baton Rouge, Louisiana); Rescuers search for missing girl (July 31, 1987. Chesterfield, Virginia)
Episode 114 (Episode 14)
Air date: 1989-12-19
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Seattle Cop Shooting: Police officer is shot, good samaritans aid in the chase (May 15, 1989. Seattle, Washington); Carbon Monoxide Save: elderly couple are overcome by Carbon Monoxide fumes (November 6, 1988. Skokie, Illinois); Santa Catalina Rescue: a scuba diver surfaces too fast, needing in the hypobaric chamber (May 14, 1989. Santa Catalina Island, California); Baby Toss: A woman must toss eight babies from her top floor burning apartment (February 9, 1989. Washington, D.C.)
Episode 115 (Episode 15)
Air date: 1990-01-02
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Dynamite explodes in construction worker's hand (August 17, 1989. Western Washington); Ex-convicts rob a winery (September 1988. Brookfield/New Milford, Connecticut)
Episode 116 (Episode 16)
Air date: 1990-01-09
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 117 (Episode 17)
Air date: 1990-01-19
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 118 (Episode 18)
Air date: 1990-01-26
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 119 (Episode 19)
Air date: 1990-02-08
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 120 (Episode 20)
Air date: 1990-02-27
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Fighter pilot crashes into runway at air show (April 24, 1988. El Toro, California); Documentary of the Charles Stuart murder case (October 23, 1989. Boston, Massachusetts); Man has heart attack while driving car (February 14, 1989. Jackson, Mississippi)
Episode 121 (Episode 21)
Air date: 1990-02-28
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 122 (Episode 22)
Air date: 1990-03-10
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 123 (Episode 23)
Air date: 1990-03-17
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 124 (Episode 24)
Air date: 1990-03-27
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Intruder in a deaf mother's house (October 25, 1989. Chattanooga,Tennessee); Lumberjack pinned between logs (August 10, 1989. Bellingham, Washington); Racer trapped in submerged speedboat (August 12, 1989. St. Louis, Missouri); Documentary of a New Orleans police officer (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Episode 125 (Episode 25)
Air date: 1990-04-03
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Elderly man shot outside his home (October 24, 1989. Taft, Florida); Toddler drowns in pool (September 24, 1989. Claremont, California); Climbers stranded on Mt. Whitney (July 25, 1987. Mount Whitney); Paramedics pick up elderly women involved in a car accident and a man stabbed with a barbecue fork (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Episode 126 (Episode 26)
Air date: 1990-04-10
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Parrot alerts sleeping family of gas leak (September 23, 1983. East Boston, Massachusetts); Boy's clothes catch fire (October 30, 1988. Pasadena, Texas); Fishing boat sinks, leaving three men adrift at sea (October 16, 1989. Bradenton, Florida); Paramedics from Denver General Hospital pick up victims involved in a drunk driving accident (October 15, 1989. Denver, Colorado)
Episode 127 (Episode 27)
Air date: 1990-04-23
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 128 (Episode 28)
Air date: 1990-04-28
Runtime: 60 min
Episode 129 (Best of Season One) (Episode 29)
Air date: 1990-05-08
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: This special episode re-aired some the first season's best stories: Police officer stops runaway boxcars pushing automobile down train tracks (October 3, 1985. Northville, Michigan); Husband must deliver wife's baby (September 3, 1989. Huntington Beach, California); Woman pulls man from burning car (June 10, 1988. Northern California); 4-year-old boy calls 911 when his mother chokes on a cough drop (October 10, 1989. Van Nuys, California) Other stories briefly highlighted in this episode: The flooding of the Guadalupe River; Construction works trapped upside down in a collapsed cherry picker; A firefighter who saved a boy from a flooded arroyo; A woman who was stabbed by an intruder; A woman trapped in her smoke-filled house; A boy who called 911 when his sister was accidentally shot; A boy who preformed the Heimlich maneuver on his choking brother; A family's encounter with an armed intruder
Episode 130 (Episode 30)
Air date: 1990-05-15
Runtime: 60 min
Overview: Girl accidentally stabs brother (December 1989. Atlanta, Georgia); Prisoners escape by taking four paramedics and prison personnel hostage (April 13, 1988. Nashville, Tennessee); Girl run over by school bus (November 28, 1989. Smyrna, Delaware)
