Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Confusion Delays Crews to House Fire (PRAYERS REQUESTED - Utahn family)
KSL News (transcript) ^ | August 18, 2003 | Samantha Hayes

Posted on 08/19/2003 8:15:25 PM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace

"'IS THERE A FIRE AT YOUR HOUSE?' I SAID YES...AND YELLED INTO THE PHONE, HURRY, HURRY, HURRY."

After several calls to 911, went unanswered ... a South Jordan family waited for help and, watched ... as their house burned, right in front of them.

Confusion at the dispatch center.. left one family waiting for help in the worst of circumstances .... a house fire.

News Specialist Samantha Hayes, is live ... to explain.

The grid system in the Salt Lake Valley usually makes giving directions a pretty cut and dry procedure...

But last night when two calls came in at the same time the east and west coordinates of the two addresses were confused.

The home with the real fire....was left burning....

7:00 Sunday night- smoke is pouring out of the attached garage-just few feet from the house.

The first one to notice...is the 6 year old son of John and Connie Sanine [sic].

"JOHN SANINE [sic]/HOMEOWNER: BY THE TIME WE GOT THERE THE FIRE WAS TOO BIG TO PUT OUT WITH ANY KIND OF GARDEN HOSE."

The family says no one answered when they called 9-1-1.

"ALEXIS SANINE [sic}/DAUGHTER: YOU JUST PANIC, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO BECAUSE ITS ALL HAPPENING SO QUICKLY."

Neighbors were also calling about the house fire.....problem is - it got confused with another call- on the other side of the valley.

"GARY LANCASTER/VALLEY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION CENTER: WE HAVE ONE SAYING WE HAVE ONE ON THE EAST SIDE, ONE ON THE WEST SIDE.....RESPONDING TO WHAT APPEARED TO BE THE SAME FIRE."

Frustrated, the Sanines [sic] go back inside their burning house to call the South Jordan fire department direct. A short time after- 9-1-1 calls back.

"JOHN: ABOUT MY THIRD TRIP BACK INTO THE HOUSE THE PHONE RANG..IT WAS 911 CALLING TO CONFIRM 'IS THERE A FIRE AT YOUR HOUSE?' I SAID YES- "

The South Jordan Fire Department arrives on the scene first..followed by West Jordan.

The Sanine's [sic] also had help from neighbors...including the former owner of their house.

"BART CRABBE/NEIGHBOR: WHAT'S SAD TO ME IS THEY MOVED IN 3 MONTHS AGO, WE TURNED THE KEYS OVER TO THEM...AND TO COME HERE AND SEE THIS HOME ENGULFED IN FLAMES IS JUST VERY HARD TO WATCH."

35 firefighters eventually put out the blaze in 2 hours...the home has 200,000 dollars worth of damage- which they plan to fix.

The Valley Emergency Communication Center is investigating what happened to see if they are at fault.

The Sanine's say they aren't upset about what happened..they are just happy everyone in their family...including 7 kids are all safe.

Reporting live, Samantha Hayes Eyewitness News.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: 911; delay; housefire
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last
To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
We are praying for them.
21 posted on 08/20/2003 7:39:40 PM PDT by Dubya (Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,but by me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Prayers offeres for the Sasine family.
22 posted on 08/20/2003 7:40:25 PM PDT by SAMWolf (Jealousy is all the fun you think they have.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
I have a feeling that, when they called 9-1-1 and THEN the dispatch center itself, they were QUITE clear with their address.

That's certainly possible, and I certainly sympathize with their trauma. However, the side they saw of the situation may not necessarily provide all of the information required to get an accurate picture of what happened.

For example: the article indicates they called 911 several times and got no answer. Small area dispatch centers generally have only a few people on duty at any given time, and usually have more 911 trunks than they have people to answer them. In some jurisdictions, the overflow calls go to a "please hold on" message. (Yes, believe it or not, your house is burning down and you're on hold.) In other jurisdictions, the lines just continue to ring until a dispatcher can get to them. Calling and hanging up repeatedly simply puts you back at the top of the que.

But, what the "no answer" situation probably indicates is that the center was already receiving calls from the neighbors. This, too, is quite common. So, it's possible that they got an incorrect address from one neighbor and a correct address from another neighbor, or it's also possible that there were two simultaneous incidents in similar sounding locations. This happens more often than you might imagine.

At any rate, if we assume the story is accurate, your friends never got through to 911. So, it appears that the dispatchers, confronting a disparity in locations, chose to go to the source and called the house that was allegedly on fire to confirm that they were sending equipment to the right address.

My gripe, at any rate is with the story, which appears to contain a number of assumptions that probably aren't true, and at any rate are examples of assumptions not facts. To wit:

1. Because the residents couldn't get a quick answer on 911, the fire wasn't being reported.

2. Equipment wasn't dispatched before the "is your house on fire" call.

3. The confusion about addresses was something the dispatchers created.

Just as a matter of information, the new computer aided dispatch systems require a considerable amount of information to be input before the dispatch can occur. One of the things that needs to be verified is the address. As a rule, the address visible to the dispatcher when you call 911 is provided by the phone company, and the data is sometimes wrong. So, taking time to verify is necessary.

At night, a good standard for normal response delay from the time 911 answers your call to the time the equipment leaves the station is on the order of two and a half minutes. Then you add to that the drive time. Meanwhile, when you're on the other end waiting, every second seems like an hour. It is very routine to recieve complaints that it took fifteen minutes for the the fire trucks to arrive only to pull the logs and discover that the actual time was something like four minutes.

So, I guess I'm just saying that I wouldn't buy at face value the one-sided story of a sensation-seeking reporter who obviously hasn't taken any time to verify the facts. Let's wait 'til we have them first.

Just MHO.

23 posted on 08/21/2003 3:42:30 AM PDT by ArmstedFragg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Prayers on the way!
24 posted on 08/21/2003 4:10:36 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Prayers for this family in need.
25 posted on 08/21/2003 8:40:33 AM PDT by austingirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Prayer bump
26 posted on 08/21/2003 11:50:29 AM PDT by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Utah Girl
Update - I got e-mail from a friend who let me know that there are some close friends to the Sasine family who are helping out with food, clothing, etc. Of course, the Mormon tradition is to be self-sufficient anyway, and in the case of this disaster, there is apparently enough care within the community of neighbors and friends to help out, which is terrific.
27 posted on 08/21/2003 1:59:14 PM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
Great news. I assumed the local ward would help out.
28 posted on 08/21/2003 5:16:35 PM PDT by Utah Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson