 Many jurisdictions require a person engaged in a call on a party line to end the call immediately if another party needs the line for an emergency.Such laws also provide penalties for abuse by falsifying emergency situations.In May 1955, a Rhinebeck, New York woman was indicted by a grand jury after her refusal to relinquish a party line delayed a volunteer firefighter's effort to report a grass fire; the fire destroyed a shed and a barn.