911 Dispatchers Dismissed Wildfire Calls(Lake Tahoe Fire)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CBS News/AP

Two dispatchers with the California Highway Patrol initially dismissed 911 calls that came in reporting a fire on the south rim of Lake Tahoe, causing a seven-to-nine minute delay in their response, recordings of the 911 calls that were released Friday show.

On the tape from five calls answered by the CHP Truckee field office, dispatchers tell callers the smoke they are seeing is from a controlled burn in the area. The smoke actually came from a fire that ultimately destroyed 254 homes and burned 3,100 acres of mountain wilderness.

"I'm on the golf course, it's — uh — Lake Tahoe Country Club, and we can see smoke coming off the mountain to the west of us," a man reported, according to a transcript of the first call received by the CHP's Truckee communications center at 2:02 p.m. on June 24.

"Yeah. Yeah, they're doing a — a control burn there," the dispatcher responded.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/14/national/main3058054.shtml

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I think these dispatchers need to find another line of work - these too were no rookies and may have been too cocky in their duties.

[laylah]

1. Freakin' idiots...

imvho, they have a bit of culpability...just sayin'