Don’t call 911 or 511 to find gas

State and local authorities have one word for motorists who are calling 911 or 511 to find out what stations have gas: Don’t.

Douglas County spokesman Wes Tallon said his west metro county’s 911 center has been flooded with calls since the gas shortage began earlier this month.

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Elissa Eubanks/eeubanks@ajc.com

Joe Wimbley of Jonesboro pumped 3,000 gallons of gas at a Chevron station in Norcross last week.

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Tallon reminded would-be callers that 911 is for emergencies, and he noted that 911 operators have no way of knowing which stations have gas.

He said he is afraid gas calls will interfere with real emergencies.

Likewise, officials with the state Department of Transportation report a spike in calls to the DOT’s 511 system from callers asking about gas availability.

The 511 system was started a year ago to help motorists get information about traffic congestion or wrecks blocking major highways, as well as estimated travel times around metro Atlanta.

“We have had numerous people calling thinking that 511 is a resource for finding information about fuel availability, and it is not,” said Paul Marshall, a spokesman for the DOT. “We don’t have a menu option for that.”

Marshall said, however, that if motorists run out of gas on a metro Atlanta interstate, they can call 511 to request a Highway Emergency Response Operator, or HERO, unit.

“They will give them a gallon of courtesy fuel, to get them up off the highway so they’re not a safety risk,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.