Report Exposes Dispatcher, Firefighter Mistakes

An investigative report by the Washington (DC) mayor’s office has revealed that both firefighters and dispatchers made multiple mistakes, leading to a delayed response that ended with the death of a man who suffered a cardiac incident. The 13-page report by Dep. Mayor Paul Quander Jr. says four dispatchers from the district’s Office of Unified Communications have been recommended for discipline, and five firefighters also face discipline. Last month Medric Mills, 77, collapsed at a business across from a district firehouse. Citizens went to the station and notified the firefighters, but for several reasons they did not respond to the incident. When a business owner dialed 911, a OUC calltaker mistakenly entered the location as Rhode Island Avenue NW, when it was actually located in the northeast (NE) quadrant of the city, a difference of almost three miles (street explanation). The 911 caller almost immediately corrected the calltaker, who updated the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) incident with the correct location. However, by then the EMS radio dispatcher had already dispatched the incident to field units, and then failed to notice the location update. A police dispatcher did notice the update and properly dispatched officers to the incident. EMS units arrived 9½ minutes after the 911 call was made. The report recommended several changes in the OUC dispatching procedures, including verifying locations on the radio and requiring a read-back, revising CAD displays of incident updates, and checking the status of responding units on the radio. Download (pdf) the full investigative report here.