Siri calls 911, helps save man injured by exploding cottage

By Rene Ritchie
published

Siri on iPhone
Siri on iPhone

Something goes wrong. You're in a crash. You're in an fire. The world turns to chaos around you. You can't reach your phone. You can't call for emergency services. But Siri can. And it did just that for Christopher Beaucher when he went to check on his mother's cottage only for it to explode around him.

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Somehow he managed to get himself out to his Land Rover and grabbed his cellphone, but he said he couldn't use his fingers to dial 911 due to his burns.Instead, he asked Siri to do it for him."I had the presence of mind to use Siri to at least call 911," Beaucher said.He said the voice command app likely saved his life."I was going into shock, too, so having Siri to dial 911 for me was critical," he said.

Having services like Siri 911 or SOS, which can call for help when you ask — or when you press, if you can't ask — literally save lives.

Next time you see your loved ones, take a moment to show them how to use SIri and SOS to do just that. It can save their lives too.

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

2 Comments
  • Pretty cool. On another, somewhat similar, note...have you guys done any digging into the "ghost calls" being reported by various 911 emergency departments around the country? Many news outlets are reporting the Apple Watch as being responsible.
  • I am a 911 operator -- we get a lot of accidental calls from apple watches. Must be a multi-press feature on a button. Does it have buttons? Anyway, people always say they can't figure out how the watch called 911 but it does.