If a 911 dispatcher had handled an incoming call differently, it is possible that the disastrous Waldo Canyon Fire could have been suppressed long before it killed two people and burned 18,000 acres and 347 homes in Colorado Springs.
On April 19 we covered the time line on the fire, including the fact that it took firefighters 16 hours to find it after the first smoke report at 7:50 p.m. on June 22, 2012. Between 7:30 a.m. and 7:50 a.m. the next day another 911 caller reported the fire and indicated that he had been running on a trail and apparently had been close to the fire and knew the actual location. But the dispatcher said the Forest Service was responding, and thank you. Four hours later at noon firefighters finally found the fire 16 hours after the first report.
KKTV transcribed the 911 call from the runner:
Dispatcher: “On Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 7:50 a.m.”
Dispatcher: “This is the El Paso County Dispatch.”
Caller: “I’m calling on the suspected Waldo fire; I was running the trail today and went up on one of the dog legs after I smelled a little bit of smoke. There’s a spot about a couple hundred feet wide that’s still smoldering a little bit.”
Dispatcher: “Right….Pueblo Forest Service checked on that last night they said that they would be sending up another unit first thing this morning to check on it, but they are aware of it and they will be up there shortly this morning. Okay?”
Caller: “Yeah. I just wanted to make sure.”
Dispatcher: “Sure. Thank you.”
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office report about the fire mentioned the runner’s call:
…[The caller] was advised that responding agencies were aware of the report. The reporting party’s contact information or specific location was not captured or reported to responding agencies as the dispatcher believed responding agencies were aware of the location of the fire.
Later in the Sheriff’s report, the call was referred to again:
…Pinpointing more specific location would potentially expedite response. Obtaining specific information from witnesses as to their location with respect to the sighting of smoke/fire and responding to reporting parties’ locations as they were reporting signs of the fire would more narrowly identify the location of the fire.
There is no indication in the reports that the U.S. Forest Service requested a helicopter or any other aerial resources to assist in locating the smoke, which was in the Pike National Forest just west of Colorado Springs.
I WONDER IF THERE IS ANY UNIFIED EFFORT AMONG THE 9-1-1 DISPATCHER COMMUNITY TO DISSEMINATE “LESSONS LEARNED” SCENARIOS….. “OPEN YOUR MIND. OPEN YOUR MIND!”
HUMAN PERCEPTION AND COMMUNICATION IS SO INNATELY FALLABLE! WHY DON’T WE GET IT? WEREN’T THERE SIMILAR ISSUES A FEW MONTHS EARLIER WITH 9-1-1 CALLS DURING THE START OF THE NORTH FORK FIRE? EACH 9-1-1 CALL MUST BE RECEIVED AS CRITICAL INFORMATION WITH NO ASSUMPTIONS AND NO PRESUMPTIONS BY THE DISPATCHER UNLESS THE DISPATCHER’S KNOWLEDGE OF A SITUATION IS ABSOLUTE AS PROVIDED BY HIS OR HER SUPERVISOR.
Lone Ranger: good luck in getting that stuck CAPS LOCK key fixed. Until then, it appears that you are YELLING!
Sorry about that Bill. With my “growing older” hands and cramped quarters for typing it’s just easier to do all caps. And no, I wasn’t yelling to make a point. Thanks for your point. It sure is extra dry outside!
LR
While I use a local state forestry dispatch center, 95% of our reports of fires come on through 911 centers and it either prompts a response from both a RFD and state resources or just state resources. My dispatchers as well as my IA resources are fully empowered to ASK QUESTIONS! Ask dispatch to call back the reporting party and have them come out and show you where the fire is or at least where they last saw it. I think some burden sits on the IA resources and fire managers from the Forest Service bear soem burden on not asking more questions about the origin of the call or subsequent calls reporting the fire.
I understand that this call came in after crews were looking but would have been good information to share with the FS, but my experience has been the FS dispatch centers dont take or ask for information very well.
What is the FEMALE dispatcher’s name? You can’t find it anywhere, in any of the interviews, stories oir reports on this tragedy on the internet. At least those sketchy reports mention that the dispatcher was female.You make no menrtion of her gender at all in this entire article? Not even a preposition indicating the dispatcher was a woman. Why the deliberate ommision of important information? If it was a guy you’d probably include his gender.
I also did not mention what kind of shoes the dispatcher was wearing or their favorite color. Those details are just as irrelevant as the person’s gender.
What IS relevant, is to learn how to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. The names of people is not important, except to that person’s supervisor.