When the call came, they answered.

First responders from agencies throughout South Georgia wasted no time responding to a 911 call claiming an active shooter was at Valdosta High School.

The call was a hoax. One of several similar calls targeting schools throughout Georgia.

But that was discovered later.

First responders didn’t know the call was a hoax when they arrived at Valdosta High. They responded to a 911 call claiming there was a shooter inside the building and several people had been shot, according to the Valdosta Police Department.

Thankfully, no one had been shot. No shooter was inside the building. Again, the call was part of an elaborate hoax.

Again, first responders did not know that when they arrived.

Watch videos posted on social media in the wake of the response. Viewers will see law enforcement officers rushing the campus, entering the school building, running toward potential danger. They did not wait. They did not stall. They acted.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said the response was part of his deputies training.

Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan said the response “is a great example of multiple first responder agencies working together quickly and efficiently, to ensure the safety of our children. We know this incident caused an extreme amount of stress in our community and we appreciate everyone’s patience.”

First responders acted with urgency but also understanding.

The VPD reported one adult “jumped the perimeter fence and ran toward an officer.” Police did not say if the adult was a panicked parent worried about a child inside the school or someone else. But after detaining the man when he refused to follow an officer’s commands, police later released him.

It was a difficult morning for the students and faculty inside Valdosta High, for school administrators, for neighboring schools locally and around the state, for parents who drove by the hundreds to Valdosta High School to wait along the side and median of Inner Perimeter Road, to hospital workers preparing for the worse, for the community anxiously waiting for word from the high school.

And for first responders – law enforcement, emergency medical personnel, firefighters – who responded en masse. They met the difficulty with urgency, with courage, with skills learned through training.

They answered a call that claimed a violent tragedy was taking place.

Even though the call was a hoax, it still caused damage, psychological trauma for some students, faculty, parents, community members and possibly some first responders.

Still, we can take assurance and comfort in knowing our first responders are ever ready, ever vigilant, ever bold.

And we can be assured, if the call comes, they will answer.