The stakes are often high, as Murphy reiterated that had the first responders not been there that night, his son would have died.
Luckily 9-1-1 has a super talented cast at the wheel, so there should likely never be a moment where the situation seems any less intense than what it is.
So while 9-1-1 may focus on some of the more rare emergency calls a team might get called out to (such as getting strangled by a snake), it’s hard to dispute the series over the top situations as unrealistic after hearing what Ryan Murphy personally experienced.