STATter 911 obtains 911 call from DC’s Mt. Pleasant fire. Woman trapped for 16 minutes with little instruction. DC 911 plans changes.

For more than 16 minutes an unidentified woman told a 911 call taker that she needed help after becoming trapped in her burning Mt. Pleasant apartment building. Only once during the entire call did the 911 worker offer instructions on what the woman should do to protect herself from the choking smoke filling the fourth floor apartment.

Kenneth Mallory, the 911 operations director at DC’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC), says the call taker deserves credit for staying on the line the entire time and helping to direct fire crews to the woman’s apartment. Mallory admits there was little in the way of pre-arrival instructions offered to the woman, but says OUC is working to change its procedures.

The 911 center has bought software from Priority Dispatch to help call takers provide information to those in fire and other hazardous situations. The center already uses the firm’s software for EMS calls.

Until training can be done, Mallory says liaison officers for the DC Fire & EMS Department assigned to OUC will help train civilian 911 workers on what to tell callers trapped in a fire.

On the 911 call from the March 12 fire the trapped woman repeatedly asked what she should do. Only at more than 6 minutes into the call does the 911 worker suggest using towels to block the door and around her face. Later requests for instructions are not answered by the call taker.

The woman eventually decides to go to a kitchen window herself to get air and call for help. The best information from Mallory and other sources is that the woman and the 911 worker’s efforts eventually led firefighters to the woman’s apartment.

STATter 911 and 9NEWS NOW had asked for the entire 911 and fireground recordings from the incident through a Freedom of Information Act request. So far OUC has not supplied any recordings. This call was obtained from a source who has asked to be kept anonymous.