Fire Drama Tape

Dispatcher Patrick Woods received a wireless 911 call at the Johnson County (Mo.) Central Dispatch, and stayed on the phone for over 20 minutes in one of the most dramatic logging tapes I’ve ever heard. A woman had been overcome by smoke, and could not give her address, but only whisper “Help.” Without Phase II, Woods could only listen and reassure the woman when he could hear her mumble. Finally the woman gives out an address–but no apartment number. Listen to the tape as you can hear firefighters begin knocking on doors to locate the woman, who was pregnant, and then finally rescue her. She fully recovered, but county director of communications Tom Ling notes Missouri is the last state in the U.S. without wireless 911 cost recovery. Read a newspaper story here.