Another 911 call gone bad
Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:19 am
911 dispatcher quits after call for help ignored
By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8
CLEBURNE, Texas — It was a call for help that was ignored by a 911 emergency operator.
The dispatcher who took the call resigned Monday after failing to respond properly to a fire that killed an elderly woman in Cleburne.
The fire last Thursday night smoldered inside Dorothy Bowles' duplex until smoke drifted toward a neighbor, who called the fire department.
"I'm outside my house on Ridge Run Street, and I'm smelling a bunch of smoke somewhere," the caller said in a recording of the 911 conversation. "It smells like insulation burning, but I can't find the fire anywhere."
"I'll have somebody come to check the area," the dispatcher replied.
But the operator never sent anyone to investigate, as rules require.
Inside the burning house, the 84-year-old woman woke up, tried to escape, but apparently became disoriented in the smoke, according to fire investigators.
Twenty minutes after the first call, the persistent neighbor phoned 911 again.
"I called you a few minutes ago about smelling smoke in the Ridge Run area," the neighbor said. "I found the problem. It's two doors down from my house. There's windows broke out and a little bit of smoke coming out of the windows."
"OK, I've got somebody en route," the dispatcher replied.
But it was too late.
Bowles died of smoke inhalation from a fire that likely started from a smoldering cigarette in a chair.
The unidentified 911 operator quit on Monday; the same day Dorothy Bowles was buried.
"It is inexcusable," said Cleburne police Chief Terry Powell. "I call it a very, very, very bad judgement call on the part of the communicator."
Investigators don't know whether Bowles would be alive if the operator had dispatched firefighters after the first call for help.
"I think she would've had a chance to make it if they would've gotten her to CPR sooner," said John Duvall, the victim's nephew who lives next door.
Chief Powell said the operator didn't act because the caller failed to provide a specific address.
All of Cleburne's 911 procedures were under review as a result of the tragic death.
By BRAD WATSON / WFAA ABC 8
CLEBURNE, Texas — It was a call for help that was ignored by a 911 emergency operator.
The dispatcher who took the call resigned Monday after failing to respond properly to a fire that killed an elderly woman in Cleburne.
The fire last Thursday night smoldered inside Dorothy Bowles' duplex until smoke drifted toward a neighbor, who called the fire department.
"I'm outside my house on Ridge Run Street, and I'm smelling a bunch of smoke somewhere," the caller said in a recording of the 911 conversation. "It smells like insulation burning, but I can't find the fire anywhere."
"I'll have somebody come to check the area," the dispatcher replied.
But the operator never sent anyone to investigate, as rules require.
Inside the burning house, the 84-year-old woman woke up, tried to escape, but apparently became disoriented in the smoke, according to fire investigators.
Twenty minutes after the first call, the persistent neighbor phoned 911 again.
"I called you a few minutes ago about smelling smoke in the Ridge Run area," the neighbor said. "I found the problem. It's two doors down from my house. There's windows broke out and a little bit of smoke coming out of the windows."
"OK, I've got somebody en route," the dispatcher replied.
But it was too late.
Bowles died of smoke inhalation from a fire that likely started from a smoldering cigarette in a chair.
The unidentified 911 operator quit on Monday; the same day Dorothy Bowles was buried.
"It is inexcusable," said Cleburne police Chief Terry Powell. "I call it a very, very, very bad judgement call on the part of the communicator."
Investigators don't know whether Bowles would be alive if the operator had dispatched firefighters after the first call for help.
"I think she would've had a chance to make it if they would've gotten her to CPR sooner," said John Duvall, the victim's nephew who lives next door.
Chief Powell said the operator didn't act because the caller failed to provide a specific address.
All of Cleburne's 911 procedures were under review as a result of the tragic death.
