Wichita ? The number of accidental cell phone calls to 911 is on the rise in Wichita, causing problems for emergency operators.

Sedgwick County 911 director Diane Gage said her county averaged 60 inadvertent 911 cell phone calls a day in November. That takes up valuable time and clogs phone lines, she said.

Nationwide, the Federal Communication Commission estimates up to 70 percent of all cell phone calls to 911 are unintentional.

“It can be time-consuming,” Gage said. “Most people have no idea they even called it.”

The problem is, dispatchers who receive a 911 call must determine whether the call is accidental or a real emergency.

First, they call the cell phone, and if that doesn’t work, they contact the cell phone company and obtain the home address of the customer. Once they have the address, dispatchers either call the home number or send an officer to investigate.

One cause of inadvertent calls is a feature many cell phones are equipped with that automatically dials 911 if a key — usually 1 or 9 — is held down for a few seconds.

Often, users are not even aware of the feature. Cingular Wireless spokesman Townsend Heald said his company stopped programming the automatic-dial option a few years ago because of accidental calls.

Some users also program 911 into their speed dial. When a phone with an open-faced design brushes against something, 911 is easily dialed.