AT&T announced a statewide trial for texting emergency dispatchers in Tennessee 16 years ago. Two years later, all major carriers came on board. But deployment depends on local public safety departments.

To date roughly 60 percent of the country's emergency response centers are equipped to handle text-to-911 service calls.

And now Hendry officials say their county is one of them.

Traditional 9-1-1 voice calls are still preferred. But the text-to-911 service is important for those to use when it is not safe to make a voice call, or for users who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability.

Those in Hendry and other communities that are equipped to handle text-to-9-1-1 calls, can type 911 into the “to” field via a mobile phone. It is important to include an address and the nature of the emergency within the body of the text when texting 911 for help.

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