Call Put on Hold, Woman Dies

Several Bucks County (Penn.) dispatchers have been disciplined for not answering a 911 call from a bedridden woman whose bed caught on fire, and who died in the fire. County officials wouldn’t name the dispatchers or say what the discipline was, but they did release the logging tape of the woman’s 911 call. The call rang in seven times (27 seconds) even though several dispatchers were free, county officials said. Finally a dispatcher answered the phone, but then put the call on hold for 27 seconds to handle another telephone call. Read a news story and listen to the call here, and listen to the 911 call here.