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I called 911

Started by Sixacresand, October 28, 2019, 09:05:26 PM

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Sixacresand

I misjudged the direction and length of a falling pine this afternoon and it fell into a power line in the woods.  I saw it happening and put some distance between me and the stump.  I called the power company and reported it and they dispatched a repairman immediately.  In the meantime the tree top caught fire and ignited ground brush and leaves.  Thinking I would need a fire truck, I dialed 911 on my cell and got the sheriff's office in a neighboring county.  They gave the number of my county's sheriff's office.  It stayed busy for at least 15 minutes of redialing.  I looked up the number of the city police and they never answered either.  In the meantime the fires burned themselves out.  I stayed put until the lineman arrived and tell me it was safe to cross downed power lines.  I know I did something stupid but this experience doesn't give me a lot confidence in dailing 911.  I must be missing a step in the emergency calling procedure.  I can't imagine getting busy signal if there is a intruder or the house is burning or needing medical attention.  
"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

Southside

Glad it worked out in the end.  I would contact your local 911 center and file a formal complaint about what happened, not to be vindictive, but rather to get the attention necessary to address the multiple failures that happened here.  The first SO should have stayed on the line with you and connected you to the correct center, not getting off the line until you were speaking with someone.  Definitely not giving you a number to dial.  

Maybe the technology failed, maybe someone will get jacked up for not doing their job, either way you don't want a repeat of this for you or someone else the next time when seconds count.   In addition to your local funding via budgeting the 911 system get paid from taxes you pay each month on your cell bill.  No need for this to have happened.  
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

btulloh

Scary stuff. Glad it turned out as well as it did. Lucky thing the fires burned themselves out. Whew!

You might just need to wrangle up the local dispatcher's direct number and make sure it's handy in your phone. That works here. The call ends up at the best place for it without going through the 911 operator. I use it a lot for fire and police services that do not really warrant an emergency 911 call and it's been invaluable many times. Just depends on how things work there. You might want to drop by and talk to them. 

Glad to hear it all turned out ok today. 

Be safe out there. 
HM126

SawyerTed

First I'm glad it wasn't any worse than it turned out to be.  The fire could have been a real problem which I know you know.  

Every place is different, in our area cell numbers issued in the near by larger city were "mapped" back to that neighboring county.  Fortunately, they could transfer to the 911 dispatcher in our county.  That has now changed here. My cell number is attached to my residence in this county now.

It would be worth checking with your county emergency services to find out what happened.
Woodmizer LT50, WM BMS 250, WM BMT 250, Kubota MX5100, IH McCormick Farmall 140, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 455 Rancher

WV Sawmiller

   Glad nobody was hurt. We always joke about calling 911 and getting put on hold but when you don't get an answer or get through it sounds pretty scary. I thought if you got the wrong county they patched you through to the correct one and the receptionist stayed on the line till they ensured you were connected. I agree you should register a complaint so the agency does a review of what went wrong and how to fix it.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Old Greenhorn

That ain't right on any level. You should contact the supervisor at the 911 center you first called and register a complaint. This is how things get better. No way should that 911 operator have given you a phone number and hung up with an active fire, completely unacceptable in any 911 system I have seen.
 It won't get better if people don't hold them to the proper standards. Kick that same scenario up a notch and put a child under that fallen tree and see what kind of investigation they would run after you spent 20 minutes trying to get help. At the 911 center there should be no difference in this 2 calls.
 There is a problem there, and it's training.
Tom Lindtveit, Woodsman Forest Products
Oscar 328 Band Mill, Husky 350, 450, 562, & 372 (Clone), Mule 3010, and too many hand tools. :) Retired and trying to make a living to stay that way. NYLT Certified.
OK, maybe I'm the woodcutter now.
I work with wood, There is a rumor I might be a woodworker.

tree-farmer

Similar experience a few years back. We had a machine in shop carch fire. Flames up to ceiling and spreading. I called 911, it rang 8 or 10 times, before I gave up and started to get out. Luck was on our side a exfire fighter that worked with us was able knock it down with fire extinguiser. 911 called back 10 or 15 minutes later. Had it not been controled im sure the building would have been lost by then. Told them I was not impressed, at least not in a good way.
Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

btulloh

The 911 system there clearly made some mistakes and everybody brought up some good points. Keeping the dispatchers number with you gives you an additional option when 911 doesn't get the job done. Having options is a good thing, especially when dealing with government entities. 

It'll be interesting to see what comes from your filing a complaint. Hopefully things will be better for everyone if they rectify some the systemic problems. 
HM126

sawguy21

I had to use 911 several times when my wife was ill, the dispatcher asked what city, what service was required then stayed on the line until I was connected. It sounds like yours was either not properly trained or procedures were not being followed. I suggest lodging a complaint and staying on it until you get an answer, that is not acceptable. A life could be at stake.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

Ljohnsaw

Good thing you weren't out here with that fire!  You'd end up being responsible for paying for putting out the wild fire that would have ensued!  180,000 people evacuated from the Sonoma (Kincade) fire.

I agree, you should followup on that call.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Ianab

Likely your cell provider is routing the 911 calls to a wrong number. It happens to be a police station, but it could be Apu's Quicky Mart for all they know. If it went to a general enquiries number at a local Police Stn, the guy that answers likely doesn't have the info / ability to patch you someplace else. 

Make the complaint to the Emergency Dept that should be covering your Area. Even if cellular gets your location wrong, it should still go to a 911 Operator someplace in the general area, and they could then patch you to the right person. 

But the misdirection wont get fixed unless it gets pointed out to someone in charge. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Cartwright

I've had my cell in my pocket and accidentally hit emergency call and within seconds got called back to see if all was ok. Something definitely not right with what happened with you!! 
Wood-Mizer LT50HDD47-RA
Eg 200 twin blade edger 25hp gas
Volvo L30 compact  wheel loader
Ford CL65 skid steer
'09 F250 Super Duty Powerstroke 
Stihl ms391, 390, 029

Peter Drouin

Goes to show you [You don't count on anyone for help].
I called one time for Ann to get moved to the ER from home.
I won't call again.


 
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Raider Bill

The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Sixacresand

"Sometimes you can make more hay with less equipment if you just use your head."  Tom, Forestry Forum.  Tenth year with a LT40 Woodmizer,

Autocar

Don't be surprised if you don't get a repair bill from the power company. Years ago we were cutting a job near Celsie Michigan and staying in motels we cut from day light to dark. The other cutter walked over to me and asked if I would pound on a wedge for him . He was about tuckered out from pounding so we started back towards the tree and it tips over hitting a power line. It cost us $1500.00 to put a single phase line back up and the company toward us that if there was a dairy farm or store on the line they could sue us for the lose income where the power was off. Now as a old man we learned most of what we know by screwing up when we were young  ;D
Bill

SawyerTed

Bill that must have been infuriating!  

Equally as frustrating are the 911 calls requesting assistance on Hawkins Farm Road and the responders show up here on Hawkins Road (nearly 20 miles away).  Apparently the people at our house number on Hawkins Farm Road used to like to fight ALOT!'
Woodmizer LT50, WM BMS 250, WM BMT 250, Kubota MX5100, IH McCormick Farmall 140, Husqvarna 372XP, Husqvarna 455 Rancher

Resonator

The county I live in just changed ALL of the duplicate addresses in the county, to eliminate sending emergency crews to the wrong address. It took over a year to do it, changing entire road names and house numbers that had been the same for 100 years. I still have to look at my drivers licence when people ask me where I live.
Under bark there's boards and beams, somewhere in between.
Cuttin' while its green, through a steady sawdust stream.
I'm chasing the sawdust dream.

Proud owner of a Wood-Mizer 2017 LT28G19

YellowHammer

Call up the local news station and get a high energy cub reporter on the topic.  Something will get done when it makes the local news. 
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

Ianab

NZ changed the rural road numbering years back so your number reflects exactly how far along that road you are, in 10 metre chunks. They even put in marker posts at each driveway with the numbers on them. So my old place was 102 Manu Road, meaning it was 1.02 km up that road. There were only 3 houses, and the road was so remote that Google's street view hasn't got there yet. But the address could be found in an emergency. 

Unless you got confused with Manu Crescent or Manu Place, which the post office seemed to do quite often. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

petefrom bearswamp

in our county 911 calls only go to our county of residence.
If is was your fault you should be responsible for the repair.\ IMO
Also regarding all The  negative comments.
How about before 911?
Hold your hand over your %&$$##@ until Help or not arrives? 
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

Southside

Land line and cell phone 911 work differently in the sense of where the call is supposed to go.  Sometimes they go to different agencies based on who divied up what as far as resources go, other times it all goes to the same place, but cell 911 calls are based on the origin location of the caller - what tower did you ping, and now your actual GPS location in case towers cross jurisdiction lines  - not the place you live or where your phone number is from.  Imagine being on vacation in Florida and you call 911 on your cell phone to report an accident and Mandan, ND answers - that would not be a good system.  

The real issue here was folks who didn't want to be bothered while collecting a check at their job.  Long story short, back when I had a real job I directly called an HHS type agency to deal with an infant who was in imminent danger as her mom was trying to move out the place she was living and literally into a crack house, for the express purpose of getting wasted easier - late teenage waste of oxygen.  This was an infant, a very small one at that, I don't have kids, and I did have a 95 lb German Shepherd, so I called the folks who are the "experts" at this.  I told the folks there the whole story, and the gal I ended up speaking with told me they could not help me and I should "call 911" - my response was "Lady I am the guy 911 sends out to deal with whatever instigated the call".  I ended up having my CO call their director, didn't take long before someone showed up on scene after that with blankets, toys, food, car seat, etc.  Much better than the Level 4 vest, tracking harness, and spill proof dog bowl options I had available.  Sometimes you need to light a fire to get a response.  In your case it seems the fire was not quite big enough.  
Franklin buncher and skidder
JD Processor
Woodmizer LT Super 70 and LT35 sawmill, KD250 kiln, BMS 250 sharpener and setter
Riehl Edger
Woodmaster 725 and 4000 planner and moulder
Enough cows to ensure there is no spare time.
White Oak Meadows

firefighter ontheside

Using a cell phone to dial 911 can be a tricky thing.  It may go to the wrong place.  You got the wrong county and not only that, you got law instead of fire.  In my experience, law is not much help with fire.  My experience is 27 years in the fire service.  There was some good advice about finding an actual 7 digit phone number to your local dispatch.  That will solve the 911 problem with cell phone.  Dialing the 7 digit number is no different than dialing 911 as far as the dispatchers are concerned.  Better luck next time, if there is a next time.  Hopefully not.
Woodmizer LT15
Kubota Grand L4200
Stihl 025, MS261 and MS362
2017 F350 Diesel 4WD
Kawasaki Mule 4010
1998 Dodge 3500 Flatbed

Ljohnsaw

911 here just rings the CHP (California Highway Patrol) dispatcher. Then they ask what the issue is.  On my cell, I have CHP non-emergency and Placer County Sheriff non-emergency numbers.  The "rule" is if you are on a highway, call CHP, otherwise the Sheriff.  I was coming down the Sierras on I-80, coasting down a step downgrade.  I came around a right turn and a car was stopped on the right shoulder hanging halfway out into the lane (two lanes wide).  Stupid place to stop.  Even if the engine died, you could still coast down to a safe straightaway.  So I called the non-emergency CHP.  She instructed me to call 911 in such cases (it was a hazard, to me, not an emergency) and she connected me to 911.  They already knew about it and were dispatching a patrol to investigate.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

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