Don't plan on having an emergency in Memphis (911 transript)

Harper's Magazine ^ | Jan, 2004

[Fun Bob]

Hanging on the telephone.(Debacle)(emergency response)

Harper's Magazine, Jan, 2004

From a recently released transcript of July 9 emergency-response calls regarding the collapse of Memphis-area resident Jim Wagner.

MEMPHIS FIRE DEPARTMENT: What is the address of your emergency?

CALLER: 2686 Kirby-Whitten Road just south of Summer Avenue at The Billiard Club.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay. What's the problem there, sir?

CALLER: I've got a person that's had a seizure or a heart attack, passed out totally, having convulsions.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Male or female?

CALLER: Male, approximately sixty years old.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay. Is he breathing?

CALLER: Ah, ma'am, I don't know. I'm across the building from him.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay. All right. We're on the way.

BARTLETT POLICE DEPARTMENT: Bartlett Police.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Yes, ma'am, we're needing you all on an emergency call at The Billiard Club.

BARTLETT POLICE: Where are you?

MEMPHIS FIRE: Hold on ... 2686 Kirby-Whitten.

BARTLETT POLICE: Where is that? I mean, is it a business?

MEMPHIS FIRE: It's a business. It's a billiards club. And there's a party there in cardiac arrest.

BARTLETT POLICE: Now what's the name of this place?

MEMPHIS FIRE: I don't know the exact name of it, but it's a billiards club.

BARTLETT POLICE: A billiards club?

MEMPHIS FIRE: Yeah. 2686 Kirby-Whitten.

BARTLETT POLICE: Okay, I don't think that's ours.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Kirby-Whitten is not yours?

BARTLETT POLICE: Not below 2735, I don't think.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Oh my God. This is so ridiculous.

BARTLETT POLICE: Try the county.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay. No problem.

SHEEBY COUNTY: May I help you?

MEMPHIS FIRE: We got a call at a billiards club at Whitten Road and Summer, and it didn't come up to be ours. Is that yours? Is that Bartlett?

SHELBY COUNTY: it's going to be Bartlett.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Bartlett, isn't it? All right. Let me call them.

SHELBY COUNTY: Okay.

MEMPHIS FIRE: All right. Thanks.

BARTLETT FIRE DEPARTMENT: Lt. Jones.

MEMPHIS FIRE: This is Memphis Fire. We got a call for a male who's passed out at The Billiards Club.

BARTLETT FIRE: Is that Memphis or is it county?

MEMPHIS FIRE: I don't know. I called county, they said it's yours.

BARTLETF FIRE: No. No. We stop at the road right before that. That's a Memphis call.

MEMPHIS FIRE: That's going to be city?

BARTLETT FIRE: Yeah. They got the businesses out there. Memphis got the businesses. I think county's still got the residences. But that right there is definitely not Bartlett.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay.

BARTLETT FIRE: If it's by that billiards in that shopping strip, that is going to be a Memphis call.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay.

BARTLETT FIRE: All right.

MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: 911.

MEMPHIS FIRE: This is Fire Department. We're on the line with him. He got somebody in cardiac arrest and he's giving us an address that shows to be in Bartlett.

CALLER: It don't matter whose address, somebody--

MEMPHIS FIRE: Sir, we can't send anybody outside of Memphis.

MEMPHIS POLICE: It's right on the borderline, Fire. We normally handle those.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Fire Department. What's the location of the emergency?

CALLER: I'm still over here and I ain't seen no ambulance, no nothing.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Sir, are you in the City of Memphis, or are you in Bartlett?

CALLER: I don't know. No. We're not in Bartlett. We're in City of Memphis.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Look, we're trying to get you some help, but right now I'm showing you're in Bartlett.

CALLER [shouting]: I don't care. Get an ambulance out here. This dude's fixin' to die.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Let me transfer you to Bartlett Fire.

BARTLETT FIRE: Bartlett.

CALLER: Yes. Would you please get an ambulance to The Billiards Club?

BARTLETT FIRE: it's not ours.

CALLER: Somebody get an ambulance out here. It don't matter. Send an ambulance.

MEMPHIS FIRE: Fire department. What's the address of the emergency?

CALLER [FEMALE]: We're at The Billiards Club and--

MAN [arguing with caller]: I've already been through this. It's not Memphis, it's Bartlett.

CALLER: No it's not. We're in Memphis.

MAN: Bartlett!

CALLER: We're in Memphis.

MAN: Bartlett!

CALLER: I have somebody arguing with me. But you know I don't give a shit where we're at. I want somebody that's, we're watching--

MEMPHIS FIRE: Okay, we're on the way. What are they doing at this moment?

CALLER: They are doing CPR on him, but he's probably gone.

MEMPHIS FIRE: All right. We'll be there as soon as we can. You all continue with CPR. Okay?

[An ambulance picked Wagner up thirty minutes after the first call, and he died later at the hospital.]

COPYRIGHT 2004 Harper's Magazine Foundation

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

[Fun Bob]

EMS services having turf wars at the expense of the sick and dying?

miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure war criminal

[supercat]

//EMS services having turf wars at the expense of the sick and dying?//

I've read of such things before. It would seem the logical thing to do would be to have designated overlap zones, where whoever takes the call and can handle it gets it; the other entity serving the overlapped area then gets billed for half the cost of service (offsettable if that other entity takes a different call in that area).

[cavtrooper21]

Tag line says it all....

[LibertyThug]

What can be said after that?

[GladesGuru]

Anyone who can't understand the widespread distrust of "government" after reading this must be from the planet DNC.

[pax_et_bonum]

My parents' house was hit by lightning and caught on fire last summer.

My mom had to argue with the 911 dispatcher who was hesitant to send a firetruck until she had all sorts of information besides the address.

Finally, after telling her the address three times Mother yelled at her and she agreed to call the fire department.

My dad went into the attic and put out two fires with his fire extinguisher.

They are in Harris County, Texas.

[Fun Bob]

Just remember. You don't need to own a handgun. The police are there to protect you. If you are being raped/murdered, don't use a handgun, the perp could take it from you and use it against you. Just call the police and wait. All will be well.

miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure war criminal

[breakem]

excellent application of bureaucratic principles to life and death emergency. The patient died, but we followed the manual.

[IncPen]

who's on first? ping

[NYC GOP Chick]

Geez! A similar thing happened here in lower Manhattan nearly 2 years ago.

As I was walking down Water Street, I noticed an elderly man hunching over and an elderly woman trying to hold him up, so I ran over to ask if they were OK. He had just been discharged from the hospital (NYU Downtown is a few blocks away) after a heart attack and was having the same symptoms again.

So, I take out the cell phone and call 911. After telling the operator where we were (exact location -- intersection and which corner), she tried to give me the phone # of the local fire department, so that I could ask them to send an ambulance! I was stunned and said "Excuse me, but an elderly man who just got out of the hospital after a heart attack is collapsing on the sidewalk and YOU are the 911 operator! YOU call!"

By this time, more people came over to help and someone noticed an ambulance parked a couple of blocks away. When I mentioned that to the operator, she told me that we should go over and ask them to take the guy back to the hospital. And *that* is how he got back there!

[petercooper]

Unreal! And the unemployment rate is 5.6% for a reason. Not everyone should be working, namely these morons.

[WV Mountain Mama]

I started reading this believing it was true, but then it got so unbelievable, I thought it must be a joke. I can't believe this crap goes on. I thought the new 911 systems were to take the guess work out of the address questions. The family should sue everyone of the departments.

[hattend]

So this dead guy's relatives own the Memphis fire and police departments and City hall now, right?

[mc5cents]

Unreal! And the unemployment rate is 5.6% for a reason. Not everyone should be working, namely these morons.

Oh you have that right. In my 60+ years of life and having had to deal with such people, I would place that percent at a higher figure however.

[TC Rider]

Callers fault. He should have told the first dispatcher that there was a white guy with an assualt rifle shooting the place up with lots of casualties and wounded.

[tetelestai]

In the Phx metro area, it's common to see fire trucks from neighboring cities respond to emergencies. In fact, I believe the closest unit capable of handling the problem is dispatched regardless of what city it belongs to. I'm not certain how the cost is handled.