In the early days, each of the volunteer companies, Stamford Fire Department and Stamford Police Department, each had their own seven-digit number that residents were supposed to call in the event of an emergency. The volunteer companies would dispatch their own units to incidents.
Over the years the Stamford Fire Department slowly assumed responsibility for answering those seven-digit numbers and dispatching the volunteer fire companies.
Then in 1988, the initial steps were taken to combined police and fire dispatching and to bring 911 to Stamford. It took about a year and lots of work, but the new Stamford 911 Combined Dispatch Center was born and on January 23, 1989 at 6 am, it received its first call from Mayor Serani.
