A woman in Windham Centre is asking how reliable the 911 system is in Norfolk if an emergency takes place.
We spoke to Lolita, who called 911 on her landline phone, after spotting a neighbours garage on fire in March.
She spoke to someone, who verified her address, and then transferred her to another operator.
She tells NorfolkToday that the second person she spoke with answered the phone in Spanish, and after a confused minute or so, that call cut abruptly.
She was sent to a third person, with the first indiviual she spoke to still on the line, relaying the information provided.
But, this third operator did not know where Windham Centre was and asked for further information on the location.
Lolita tells us that she informed the operator that Windham Centre was located between Waterford and Simcoe, with the operator still seeming confused.
She then gave more detailed directions, where to turn off of Highway 24, and still was met with confusion.
That is when there was an explosion at the neighbours garage.
At this point the first operator, who was still on the line, told Lolita that she could deal with the situation and that both operators on the phone would be able to locate the address and send a firetruck over.
She put down her phone and went to help as best she could, but found out that 10 minutes after she put her phone down, she received this call.
Eventually, a volunteer firefighter pulled up in his pickup truck and called in backup to the location.
We reached out to Norfolk County regarding this situation.
They told us that when a person calls 911, it is sent to a central dispatch location.
The caller will be asked the nature of the emergency and their location.
The county notes at this point it is important that residents indicate they are calling from Norfolk County, not the town they are in, as there are several municipalities with similar names with an example of a call being sent to Simcoe County.
It is also important that callers know the proper civic address (including street address and town) of the location they are calling about as dispatch does not typically have alternate/previous road names so nicknames for roads should not be used.
They add that the What3Words app is also a helpful option, especially when callers don’t know the address or are in a location that isn’t addressable, such as the bike trails in Turkey Point.
It isn’t a replacement for knowing the municipality they are calling from, but it will help once they have been transferred to the appropriate dispatch centre for their location.
