Handling emergency calls

Emergency calls at the single emergency number 112 are handled by the Emergency Response Centre (ERC) in 4 locations throughout the country.

Main reasons for calling the emergency number are health problems. In this case a dispatcher has few seconds to evaluate risks to human life and health and, if necessary, to dispatch the closest available ambulance.
The Emergency Response Centre receives and processes various emergency calls, which may cause dispatch of the rescue units: fires, traffic accidents, environmental accidents. In order to deliver aid to people, the ERC dispatchers actively cooperate with other institutions, such as police, border guard, environmental inspectorate.
In the last years, the ERC received on average more than 2 million emergency calls a year, resulting in more than 237,000 ambulance and more than 28,000 rescue deployments.
In addition to the handling of emergency calls, the Emergency Response Centre coordinates the work of the Rescue Services’ information service phone 1524. When calling that number, a person can obtain fire safety instructions, contacts of the rescue service institutions and information on the prevention campaigns and other civil protection related events.