A solution for 911 hangups.

Following the Pitman house fire yesterday, which killed a member of our Church and left her mother critically injured, thoughts naturally turn to what could have been done to prevent it. My first question was to my wife: Our smoke detectors are working, right?

But something else crossed my mind, culled from the different media reports. ABC News reported that the surviving victim was pulled out by the Pitman Fire Department. The Gloucester County times reported this morning that the Pitman Police Department was first on scene as a result of a 911 hangup call, and when they arrived they reported the fire and the Fire Department was then dispatched. While the Fire Department pulled the survivor out of the burning home, they were unable to rescue her daughter in time, who died from smoke inhalation.

Driving by the scene on my way to the office yesterday, I noticed Councilman Russ Johnson standing outside. Today's Gloucester County Times reports:

"Pitman's not used to tragedy like this," Johnson said. "I can't even tell you the last time we had a fire death. Our guys did everything they could." He pointed out that firefighters were on the scene in under five minutes of being dispatched No small feat at four in the morning as snow fell. "We're really fortunate in Pitman that we're absolutely blessed to have three fire companies with well over 80 volunteers that fight fires," Johnson said. "I don't think we let them know how much we appreciate what they do for us."

We can agree that the firefighters were there as quickly as possible. A 5 minute response time is appropriate for the Fire Department. But the fact is, emergency services (the Police) were there quicker and, evidently, couldn't do a heck of a lot because they lack the training and equipment to address a fire (at a minimum, all Police vehicles should be equipped with gas masks). So, at the end of the day, the call to 911 was not initially directed to who it needed to go to: the Fire Department.

Fires are different from heart attacks which are different from nuisance complaints. Yet, through our 911 system, all these calls are dispatched the same way when there is a 911 hangup. This exposes a significant flaw in the system: the same potentially neutered response to all 911 hangup calls.

What we need to do is develop a system where a 911 hangup for a fire is instantly routed to the fire department as well as the police. Immediately dispatching an ambulance would also be the protocol for emergency requests for a health issue: if someone's having a heart attack, the minutes that pass between the time the police respond to the 911 hangup and the arrival of an ambulance only dispatched after the police arrive could be the difference between life and death.

The solution is the creation of two new emergency numbers, one for fire, and one for ambulances. This would cover the gamut: police, fire and ambulance. This step, followed by a public information campaign similar to what we utilize to "advertise" 911 services, would go a long way to ensure that calls made to the respective emergency numbers result in the immediate dispatch of the specific service required.

This issue is narrow and will only arise when there is a 911 hangup, with the caller rendered unable to detail what exactly the problem is. But, to those who cannot speak, it could mean a lot: and we need to find ways to listen to them even more intently.