Feb. 12--ST. LOUIS COUNTY --Days after a dispatcher mistakenly sent firefighters to a Ferguson house instead of a Florissant home that was burning, the head of Central County Emergency 911 is promising policy changes aimed at preventing more costly errors.
About 7:45 a.m. Friday, a homeowner called 911 from a cellphone to report a fire at 5 Elizabeth Court in Florissant. About five minutes later, firetrucks and ambulances arrived at a Ferguson house with the same street number and name, but about five miles away in a neighboring fire district.
After the homeowner called again 10 minutes later, the dispatcher sent help to the correct house, and firefighters put out the fire in a few minutes.
The veteran dispatcher who made the mistake "feels terrible," said Michael Turner, director of Central County Emergency 911. It was unclear Tuesday whether the dispatcher would face discipline.
GPS data tracking the homeowner's cellphone was not precise, and the dispatcher forgot to ask the caller to identify the nearest cross street or the city the caller was in, Turner said.
The error delayed putting out a blaze that caused an estimated $100,000 in damage for homeowners Timothy and Gina Juch. It also exposes weaknesses in St. Louis County's largest fire dispatching center that its leader is pledging to fix.
No one was injured in the fire. Outgoing Florissant Valley Fire Chief Robert Corey said it appears to have been caused by an overheated hair dryer used to thaw frozen pipes. Flames spread into the attic, destroying parts of the upstairs and roof.
Turner acknowledged the dispatcher erred and said his staff have, so far, found 125 to 150 streets in Central County's coverage area that share the same name and street numbers.
Turner said dispatchers will receive additional training and that duplicate addresses will be flagged in the system so extra steps are taken to verify locations.
"These duplicate addresses are all over," he said.
Central County 911 dispatches fire and ambulance service for 34 fire and EMS agencies in St. Louis County, or more than 80 percent of the county, Turner said. It quadrupled the number of agencies it serves in the last year, taking over service in South County in July and in North County in November.
Duplicate addresses aren't unique to St. Louis County, though.
"You can almost bet that in every city, there's a Main Street, there's a First Street or a Second Street," said Bill Gamblin, executive director of St. Clair County 911.
In Madison County, dispatchers are urged to try to keep 911 callers on the phone as long as possible, to collect additional information while sending help, said Terry McFarland, the 911 director.
Officials in St. Clair, Jefferson and St. Charles counties said dispatchers see alerts on their computer screens when an emergency is reported at an address with a duplicate, officials said.
"With a landline call, it's very easy to do," Gamblin said. "With a cellphone, you have to use the GPS technology and be very, very careful to make sure the call plots in the right area."
Bob Watts, director of the St. Charles County Department of Dispatch and Alarm, said the county has about 40 duplicate addresses but that problems have been rare.
"You just have to ask enough questions to make sure they're going to the right spot," he said.
Travis Williams, Jefferson County's 911 chief, said the dispatch center has cut down on duplicates by serving as the county's addressing authority for more than a decade. But common addresses still exist.
"Accuracy is the No. 1 job here," he said. "You don't want to send a million dollars worth of firetrucks in the wrong direction."
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