911 System Couldn’t Pinpoint Fire Victim’s Call

The three victims of a fatal fire in Cheektowaga (NY) dialed 911 for help, but the Phase I-only system could not pinpoint their location, leading to a 28-minute response delay. A man and his two college-age daughters died when their small house caught fire in the middle of the night. Erie County 911 officials say a dispatcher there received a 911 call at 2:56 a.m., and heard a woman screaming. The dispatcher was only able to make out that the incident was on Hyland Ave., but the street runs two towns—Cheektowaga and Depew. The 911 system only displayed the location of the receiving cell phone tower in Depew. The Buffalo dispatcher relayed the information to Depew police at 3:02 a.m., who couldn’t locate the incident, and who then relayed the information to Cheektowaga police at 3:04 a.m. Officers arrived near the scene at 3:13 a.m., still not knowing the nature of the incident. The officers smelled smoke and began a search of the neighborhood. After discovering the house set back on a lot, they requested the fire department at 3:20 a.m., and crews arrived at 3:24 a.m. Officers had pulled the man’s body from the fire but could not revive him. Firefighters later found the bodies of the two women. Officials blamed Erie County’s 911 system, which does not have Phase II location features. Read more here, and a follow-up report here.