Rescue 911 (1989)
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 9-1-1. 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 these 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. At its height, the show was adapted in 45 countries.
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Episode 1 - Pilot
Release Date: 1989-04-18Flood waters overturn a bus and forty-three children swept away in flooded river (July 17, 1987. Comfort, Texas); A stabbing victim and a baby injured in a car accident are treated at Ben Taub Trauma Center (Houston, Texas); Family faces armed intruder (December 14, 1988. Arlington, Texas); other segment(s) unknown
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Episode 2 - Special 2
Release Date: 1989-05-09Houston cardiac documentary (Houston, Texas); Arsonist plays phone tag with police (January 29, 1989. Houston, Texas); other segments unknown
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Episode 3 - Episode 101
Release Date: 1989-09-05Boy 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)
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Episode 4 - Episode 102
Release Date: 1989-09-12Construction 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)
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Episode 5 - Episode 103
Release Date: 1989-09-19High 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)
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Episode 6 - Episode 104
Release Date: 1989-09-26Bystander 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)
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Episode 7 - Episode 105
Release Date: 1989-10-03Toddler 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)
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Episode 8 - Episode 106
Release Date: 1989-10-10 -
Episode 9 - Episode 107
Release Date: 1989-10-17Spelunker 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)
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Episode 10 - Episode 108
Release Date: 1989-10-20 -
Episode 11 - Episode 109
Release Date: 1989-10-27 -
Episode 12 - Episode 110
Release Date: 1989-11-07Funny 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)
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Episode 13 - Episode 111
Release Date: 1989-11-14Woman 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)
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Episode 14 - Episode 112
Release Date: 1989-11-28Woman 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)
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Episode 15 - Episode 113
Release Date: 1989-12-12Woman 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)
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Episode 16 - Episode 114
Release Date: 1989-12-19Seattle 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.)
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Episode 17 - Episode 115
Release Date: 1990-01-02Dynamite explodes in construction worker's hand (August 17, 1989. Western Washington); Ex-convicts rob a winery (September 1988. Brookfield/New Milford, Connecticut)
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Episode 18 - Episode 116
Release Date: 1990-01-09 -
Episode 19 - Episode 117
Release Date: 1990-01-19 -
Episode 20 - Episode 118
Release Date: 1990-01-26 -
Episode 21 - Episode 119
Release Date: 1990-02-08 -
Episode 22 - Episode 120
Release Date: 1990-02-27Fighter 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)
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Episode 23 - Episode 121
Release Date: 1990-02-28 -
Episode 24 - Episode 122
Release Date: 1990-03-10 -
Episode 25 - Episode 123
Release Date: 1990-03-17 -
Episode 26 - Episode 124
Release Date: 1990-03-27Intruder 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)
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Episode 27 - Episode 125
Release Date: 1990-04-03Elderly 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)
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Episode 28 - Episode 126
Release Date: 1990-04-10Parrot 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)
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Episode 29 - Episode 127
Release Date: 1990-04-23 -
Episode 30 - Episode 128
Release Date: 1990-04-28 -
Episode 31 - Episode 129 (Best of Season One)
Release Date: 1990-05-08This 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
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Episode 32 - Episode 130
Release Date: 1990-05-15Girl 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)