Here in the UK, as a young child I was taught at school how and when to ring 999, the UK emergency number.
Included how to use a public phone box for an emergency call, and learning that no coins were needed for emergency calls.

How to dial 999 by touch in darkness or smoke, with a rotary dial telephone.

And even how to proceed in case of a "party line" this being a telephone line shared between two subscribers.

And the advice that if no telephone was available, that running to the nearest police station or fire station was a possibility.

This was in the 1960s.