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Electrical emergency call script: fire, smoke or a downed line means 911 or the utility first, then triage and dispatch

By Sharrk Team · October 18, 2026

A good electrical emergency call script puts safety first: if the caller reports fire, smoke, a burning smell or sparking, they leave and call 911, and if a power line is down they stay away and call 911 or the utility. Sharrk's AI voice agent asks those safety questions on every call, 24/7, then triages the outage, captures the address and panel details, and books the job or live-transfers a real emergency to your on-call electrician.

Below is the word-for-word script, the order the questions go in, and why each line is there.

What should an electrician ask first on an emergency call?

Ask about danger before anything else. The person calling at 2 a.m. may be standing next to the problem, and the first questions decide whether they need a fire crew or an electrician.

Public safety groups agree on the basics:

• Fire or smoke: the American Red Cross says to get out, stay out and call 9-1-1 (Red Cross).
• Warning signs that need an electrician: NFPA's electrical safety tip sheet lists a burning or rubbery smell from an appliance, sparks from an outlet, discolored or warm wall outlets, flickering or dimming lights, a tingling feeling when touching an appliance, and frequently tripping breakers or blowing fuses (NFPA tip sheet).
• Downed lines: ESFI says to treat every downed line as live, keep away from anything touching it, and call 911 if someone is in contact with one (ESFI). Puget Sound Energy, a utility, tells people to stay at least 35 feet back and call 911 or the utility serving the location (PSE).
• Water: ESFI says never touch electrical equipment that has been submerged and stay out of flooded areas until the utility confirms the power is off (ESFI).
• Generators: the CDC says never run a generator indoors and keep it at least 20 feet from any window, door or vent (CDC).

Your script should never ask a caller to open a panel, touch a wet outlet, or go near a line to "take a look."

What is the word-for-word electrical emergency call script?

Use this as written, then adjust names, service area and fees to your shop.

1. Greeting

"Thanks for calling [Company] Electric, this is [Name]. Is anyone in danger right now?"

2. Safety screen (ask every time)

"Do you see fire or smoke, smell something burning, or see sparks coming from an outlet, panel or appliance?"

• If yes: "Please get everyone out of the building now and call 911. Don't try to shut anything off yourself. Once the fire department says it's safe, call us back and we'll send an electrician."

"Is a power line down or touching your house, car, fence or a tree?"

• If yes: "Please stay well away from it, at least 35 feet, and keep others and pets away. Treat it as live. Call 911 and your electric utility. The utility handles the line itself; we can come once they've made it safe."

"Is there water near any outlets, the panel or anything plugged in?"

• If yes: "Please don't touch anything electrical or walk into standing water. Stay out of that area until we or the utility confirm the power is off."

"Are you running a generator? Is it outside and well away from windows and doors?"

• If indoors or close to the house: "Please move it outside, at least 20 feet from windows, doors and vents, as soon as it's safe to do so."

3. Triage the outage

"Is the power out in the whole house, or just some rooms or outlets?"

• Whole house: "Are your neighbors out too? Could you check [Utility]'s outage map or app? If the area is out, the utility restores it, and we'll note your call in case anything is damaged when it comes back."
• Part of the house: "Without opening the panel cover, can you see if one breaker handle is in the middle or off position? If it trips again right after a reset, or you see scorch marks or feel heat, leave it off and we'll send someone."

"When did this start, and did anything happen first, like a storm, a new appliance or work on the house?"

4. Capture the details

"Can I get your name and a good callback number? What's the service address, including unit or gate code? Do you own or rent? Roughly how old is the house, and do you know your panel brand or if it's fuses or breakers? Is anyone at home who depends on power for medical equipment?"

5. Book or transfer

• Real emergency (no power with medical need, burning smell after 911 has cleared, sparking that's stopped but the circuit is dead, storm damage to the service mast or meter base): "I'm connecting you with our on-call electrician now. Please stay on the line."
• Urgent but stable: "Our first opening is [window]. After-hours visits carry a [fee] service call. Do you want me to book it?"
• Can wait: "I can put you on the schedule for [day and window]. You'll get a confirmation text."

6. Close

"If anything changes, like smoke, a burning smell or sparks, get out and call 911 first, then call us back."

How do you decide what counts as an emergency?

Write the rules down so whoever answers, a person or an AI agent, makes the same call every time.

Pricing after hours varies widely. For typical numbers, see our breakdown of what electricians charge for after-hours calls.

Why does the order of the questions matter?

Safety first protects the caller and keeps your tech out of a call that belongs to the fire department or utility. Triage second keeps you from rolling a truck for a neighborhood outage. Details third means the on-call electrician picks up a transfer already knowing the address, panel type and what the caller saw. If the script skips any of these, someone has to call back, and at night that's often the moment the lead calls a competitor.

If you're weighing a human answering service against an AI one for this, our guide to electrician answering services compares them.

How does Sharrk handle electrical emergency calls?

Sharrk's AI voice agents answer every call 24/7 and follow your script on every call, in order. You load your safety questions, service area, after-hours fees and emergency rules into a knowledge base, and the agent asks them the same way at 3 a.m. as at noon.

When a call meets your emergency rules, the agent live-transfers it to your on-call electrician, as a cold or warm transfer. Everything else gets qualified and booked onto Sharrk's calendar, Calendly, Cal.com or ServiceTitan, with real arrival windows by business unit and job type if you use ServiceTitan. Each call is logged with a recording, transcript and extracted fields such as address and panel type, and you get an email or text alert.

You don't have to build any of this by hand. Mako, Sharrk's AI assistant, builds the agent from plain English: describe your emergency rules and transfer number, and Mako shows each change on an Apply card that you can approve or undo.

Sharrk Free lets you build and test everything with 2,500 credits and no card. Going live starts on Sharrk Core at $99 a month, which covers about 316 AI call minutes. See the AI receptionist for electrical contractors, start free or book a demo.

Sources

• American Red Cross: What to do if a fire starts (checked October 18, 2026)
• NFPA electrical safety tip sheet (hosted by San Francisco Fire Department) (checked October 18, 2026)
• ESFI: Downed power lines (checked October 18, 2026)
• ESFI: Flooding and disaster safety (checked October 18, 2026)
• Puget Sound Energy: Downed power lines (checked October 18, 2026)
• CDC: What to do to protect yourself during a power outage (checked October 18, 2026)

Related on Sharrk: AI receptionist for electrical · AI answering service · Pricing

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