Emergency numbers

Call 112 for an ambulance & the fire brigade 

Call 1722 for non-urgent assistance from the fire brigade in connection with storm damage or flooding 

Call 1733 for the doctor on duty   

Call 101 for urgent police assistance in Belgium  

It is important to pass on accurate and correct information – the exact address, a description of the accident, an assessment of the danger, etc. 

1. Enter the number 112 for the fire brigade, an ambulance or the police. 112 is a toll-free number you can use anywhere in Europe. In Belgium, you can enter the number 101 for urgent police assistance.
2. Listen to the message and choose 1 or 2:
   "Emergency Call Centre.
   For an ambulance or the fire brigade, press 1.
   For the police, press 2."
3. If you do not make a selection, the message will be repeated once, then you will automatically be transferred to the emergency call centre that is responsible for your area.
4. Wait calmly for a reply. Do not hang up, as this will send you to the end of the queue again.
5. Give the correct address to which the emergency services should go (city, street, number, intersection, special access, etc.) and possibly what is the easiest way to get there. If you're not calling from the location of the incident, let the operator know.
6. Describe what happened (fire, accident, aggression, burglary, heart attack, etc.).
7. Tell the operator whether people are in danger or injured and how many.
8. Do not hang up until the operator says you can do so. Also, keep your phone line free so the operator can call back if they need more information.
9. If the situation worsens or improves, call the emergency call centre back to let them know. 

If you call 112 to report a fire, the operator may ask you for access to the camera on your smartphone. That way, you can share live images of the incident, which will be very useful for the fire brigade. Thanks to this technology, we will immediately be able to send the right equipment to the right location.  

It works like this: when calling 112, the operator may ask you for permission to activate your phone's camera. The operator will ask your permission first and then send a link to your smartphone. If you agree, your camera will open and the emergency services can monitor the situation on site live on a screen in the emergency call centre while you continue talking.  

A picture or video says more than a thousand words

The idea of live-streaming was adopted from abroad, and the Brussels Fire Brigade is so far the only emergency response area in Belgium that is using this option.  

It has many advantages:  

• Sending out appropriate resources: whenever a fire or an accident is suspected, we always send out help, but the actual resources we send will depend on the situation. If members of the public share their video with the emergency services, it's easier to send out exactly the resources needed. 
• The correct location: sometimes the caller is in distress and cannot accurately estimate where they are. By sharing their location and on-site images, resources can drive to the right location immediately. 
• Better preparation: the video footage can also be sent to the fire brigade vehicles on the road during the rescue itself, so they can tactically prepare for what they will find.   

Would you like to see how you can share live images with the emergency call centre? If so, please watch the video below.