by Eric Bender
of The Free Press
A London woman, whose house was burning around her this morning, is questioning the speediness of the 911 emergency telephone system.
Mrs. Stella Talbot of 383 Dieppe St. was awakened about 7 a.m. by smoke in the duplex she and her husband Earl own.
Downstairs, her son, James, his wife, Cathy and their two children Leeann, 5, and Danna, 4, were sleeping. The fire was below in her son’s living room.
Mrs. Talbot dialed 911.
“It rang four times and there was no answer. So I dialed it again and it rang three times before the girl answered. I said there was a fire at 383 Dieppe and then she asked me how to spell Dieppe,” Mrs. Talbot said.
“You can’t stand at a phone while your house is on fire,” Mrs. Talbot told The Free Press. She said she is going to complain to Mayor Jane Bigelow.
“Seven rings is a long time, or seems like a long time,” she said.
A check by The Free Press determined it takes 36 seconds to complete seven rings. Mrs. Talbot also took time to hang up and re-dial the number in the meantime.
Mr. and Mrs. James Talbot and son Danna were taken to hospital with burns and suffering from smoke inhalation. Leeann was also examined.
The downstairs living room was destroyed, the senior Mrs. Talbot said. Smoke seeped through the whole duplex.
However, she praised the swiftness of the fire department.
After she got through, she said the fire fighters were there in five minutes – maybe less – and worked quickly to put out the flames.
Police Supt. Fred Bruce said the call came in at 7:14 a.m. when the police operator in the communications room was on another call. When he answered the call there was no one there. He went back to the original call and the call from Mrs. Talbot came in on another line.
“He answered that and a someone hollered ‘fire” and he punched it (the call) into the fire department immediately.
The girl answered and the woman gave the address 383 Dieppe. She was shouting and excited, and there was also a man shouting in the background,” Supt. Bruce said.
“They questioned the address and asked how to spell Dieppe,” he said. “We want to send the right equipment to the right address.”
Supt. Bruce said there were four operators working in the communications department at the time.
