The Most Important Phone Numbers Everyone Needs in Tri-Cities, WA

How often do you update your phone's contact list?

When I was growing up, every time I got a new address book I had to carefully copy over each person by hand - but those contacts were all friends and family. Otherwise, we relied on the phone book to find us what we needed, or dug out old mail to find contact numbers. Thank goodness for the internet and smart phones making our lives so much easier in that regard.

Still, when it comes to adding contacts in my phone, I'm pretty lazy about it - and by lazy, I mean it usually takes me years to add important numbers to my saved contacts list.

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Numbers that every resident of Tri-Cities should have in their phones

There's a lot of important numbers you can save in your phone, but some of them come straight from the local community. Here are a few in Tri-Cities you should make sure you have added to your contacts list, no matter what walk of life you're from.

Non-emergency Dispatch:

• Benton County (Kennewick, Richland, West Richland, Prosser): 509-628-0333
• Franklin County (Pasco): 509-545-3510

Animal Control: 509-545-3740 (Tri-Cities Animal Shelter)

Power Companies:

• Benton PUD: 509-582-2175
• Franklin PUD: 509-547-5591
• Richland Power Outages: 509-942-7421 (Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.); 509-943-4428 (after hours/weekend)
• Cascade Natural Gas:  888-522-1130

Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

Benton-Franklin Crisis Response Unit: 509-792-1747

Mobile phones can be life-saving devices

Did you know that smartphones allow you to set up a medical ID? This allows you to put in your medical information into your phone so that emergency personnel can access it, getting the essential information from you when you aren't able to give it to them yourself.

It's important to add emergency contacts, including your doctors and pharmacies, to your phone. There are other services you don't want to forget, either! Here's a quick list of the most essential numbers you need.

Of course, your phone can be used to harm you too, so it's good to stay aware of possible scams like smishing. Be careful, and keep an eye on the area code of incoming calls, and don't respond to strange texts.