Blue
9/9/25
Emergency Services Day / 999 Day
On the 9th of September every year it is Emergency Services Day. It is also called 999 Day. It is a day to remember the incredibly important jobs the emergency services do, to celebrate them and say thank you for how they help us. The main emergency services include the police, firefighters and paramedics.
Police
What do the police do?
The police are there to keep everyone safe and to make sure that everyone follows the law. They patrol areas and make sure everyone is doing what they should. They also respond to 999 calls, where people have phoned for help. They go to crime scenes to try and stop emergencies but also go once the emergency is over to try and work out what happened. The police arrest people who have broken the law. Most police officers wear a uniform so you can easily identify them. Some wear plain clothes, for example detectives, who’s main job is to solve crimes after they have happened.
The history of the police force
A type of police force has existed for a very long time. Even the Egyptians and Romans had a type of police, ensuring that people followed orders.
Before there was an official police force in this country there were people called constables or watchmen in villages and towns. These were people who tried to make sure everyone was behaving and keeping the peace, but they weren’t very organised. If there was suddenly lots of trouble then the army stepped in to stop it.
The UK police was officially started in the 1800’s by a man called Sir Robert Peel. He created the Metropolitan Police in London in 1829, which was almost 200 years ago! The police officers in this newly formed police force were called ‘bobbies’ after Sir Robert Peel. This is because a nickname for Robert is Bobby.
Firefighters
What do firefighters do?
Firefighters are people who rush to put out fires. But they also do much more than that, for example they go to help if there has been car accidents, they help rescue people and animals from dangerous situations, and they help during natural disasters, such as floods.
The history of the fire brigade
The fire brigade started because of big fires like the Great Fire of London in 1666. This big disaster made people realised they needed a better and more organised way to fight fires. Volunteers were used first and then insurance company’s organised people to protect buildings they insured. But this didn’t work very well. Then cities started organising their own fire brigade. One of the first was the Edinburgh Fire Brigade that was formed in 1824.
Then in 1865, the government passed a law to create a fire brigade in London that would serve everyone, not just the rich or those with insurance. This was called the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and it began in 1866. This new brigade was paid for by the public and controlled by the government. In 1904, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade changed its name to the London Fire Brigade.
Paramedics
What do paramedics do?
Paramedics are people who rush to people in emergencies in an ambulance. They also use other transportation such as a bike, motorbike, rapid response car or even a helicopter called an air ambulance. They are like a doctor or a nurse and help people when they are feeling ill or have hurt themselves. Instead of doing this in a hospital or a doctors surgery they go to people where they are. They will treat patients as best they can and then often use an ambulance to transport them to hospital where they can get more help.
The history of paramedics
In 1902 the first ambulances appeared in London. These were vehicles to transport people to hospital only, the drivers wouldn’t have tried to treat them before they got there. Before this people would have relied on the police or fire fighters to get them to hospital or even just someone with a car, or horse drawn carriage before that!
Paramedics first started helping people in 1971, which is just over 50 years ago. When the role was first introduced they would have done limited things but now paramedics are really well trained and can do lots to help a patient before getting them to hospital or sending them on their way.
Other Rescue Services
There are other rescue services other than these main three. These include the Coast Guard, RNLI Lifeboats, RAF Search and Rescue as well as teams for mountain and cave rescues.
The Coast Guard are the emergency services for anything that happens out at sea. This includes going to help people and ships or boats that are in trouble in the water. RNLI Lifeboats also support the Coastguard to help protect people on the water and on Britain’s beaches. The RAF Search and Rescue teams also work with other emergency services to help rescue people in lots of different dangerous situations on land and water.
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots, Shutterstock and Public Domain Images.