"Nine-one-one. What's your emergency?"

Linn County residents began hearing that phrase nearly 20 years ago when the local 911 emergency phone system began operating.

Linn County was the last area along Interstate 5 between Mexico and Canada to set up a 911 system.

The 1981 Oregon Legislature ordered that all of the state be covered by 911 emergency phone systems by Jan. 1, 1991. The emergency phone lines in Linn County opened in August 1989. Problems with the system were then worked out prior to the official start date of Sept. 1.

In the beginning, dispatchers received an average of about 10 calls during an eight-hour shift. Most of them came from new residents who had come from areas with 911 service or from people using phone booths along the freeway.

Today, the phones are manned by 12 dispatchers, four supervisors and a communications manager.

In 2008, the center, which is located at the Linn County Sheriff's Office in Albany, received 68,916 calls.

Fourteen years earlier, the call load was 36,789.

Dick Slinger, who oversees the 911 center and has since the beginning, said the two biggest changes have been cell phones and advanced technology to know where calls are coming from.

In the beginning, 911 calls couldn't be traced to a specific location. With today's technology, dispatchers can know a caller's location without asking.

"It gives us another tool for judging the call or if someone isn't speaking," Slinger said.

Cell phones have contributed to a larger number of calls - wireless phones made up almost 68 percent in 2008 - and they also have made for quicker responses.

It used to be that if a passerby saw a wreck on the freeway, he would have to drive to the nearest pay phone to call for help. Today, it's not uncommon for dispatch centers to receive multiple calls about the same incident.

Calls to the Linn County center are handled differently depending on the location and problem.

The center dispatches calls for sheriff's deputies and most fire departments in the county.

Calls for Albany, Lebanon and Sweet Home police and the Oregon State Police are forwarded to those agencies so they can dispatch their own officers.