The first 9-1-1 call reporting the fire that destroyed Fort Clatsop was dismissed by the emergency dispatcher who handled it.
Not until a second call came several minutes later to a different dispatcher at the Astoria Police emergency communications center were local firefighters alerted to the blaze, which gutted the historic replica fort the night of Oct. 3.
An Astoria resident who called 9-1-1 about 10 minutes after 10 p.m. to report what appeared to be a fire on the south side of Youngs Bay was told that what she was seeing was likely just the play of light in the rain and fog.
News that the first call about the Fort Clatsop fire was not taken seriously angered Lewis and Clark Fire District Chief Ian O’Connor, who obtained a tape recording of the 9-1-1 calls and provided it to The Daily Astorian.
“It’s quite disturbing to listen to,” O’Connor said.
The Lewis and Clark Fire District and three other departments responded to the blaze, which largely destroyed the 50-year-old replica. The exact cause of the fire remains undetermined, although investigators found no evidence of arson at the scene.
The delay in calling out firefighters because the first call was dismissed likely cost the department about 15 minutes in responding to the blaze, O’Connor said. That wouldn’t have been enough time to save the fort, which was almost fully engulfed by the time the first crews arrived, but arriving 15 minutes earlier may have enabled them to protect some of the structure, he said.
Here is the transcript of the first 9-1-1 call, which came from a resident on Sonora Avenue.
Caller: “I see a fire, I’m sure it’s already been reported, but I live on Sonora, on the hill in Astoria, I’m looking over Youngs Bay River...
Dispatcher: “Yeah, it’s kind of foggy and raining out. Sometimes that happens...”
Caller: “...okay...”
Dispatcher: “...yeah, it’s not a fire.”
Caller: “Really? It looks like a fire on the other side of the river.”
Dispatcher: “Yeah, it’s not a fire.”
About 10 minutes later another person, calling from near Capt. Robert Gray Elementary School, called the 9-1-1 center and reached another dispatcher. The woman asked if a controlled burn was scheduled somewhere across the river. The dispatcher asked the caller where the fire was and to describe what she saw. The caller said she believed the fire was near Airport Road and reported seeing “bright orange flaring, and it flares up and goes down, there’s a lot of smoke with it.”
After getting the caller’s name, address and phone number the dispatcher told her “Okay, we’ll have someone check it out.”
Because the caller’s description of the fire’s location was not precise – she said she believed it was near the water – the dispatcher first called O’Connor to tell him about the call. He agreed the description was vague, but told the dispatcher to “tone out” the department volunteers to the south end of the Old Youngs Bay Bridge.
The department’s personnel were finally officially alerted at 10:28 p.m., and because of the confusion over the location, it took the crews another 15 minutes to actually find the fire.
Astoria City Manager Dan Bartlett said the police department is conducting an internal investigation of the incident and the dispatcher, whose name was not released. He will also look into the matter himself to see if any improvements in operations or training are needed, he said.
“I’ve heard the recording, and I don’t find that to be up to our standards of what we expect from our dispatchers,” he said.
The subscribers group – the various emergency service agencies that use the city dispatch center for their emergency communications – will also likely want to review the incident, Bartlett said.
O’Connor said he was originally told by the dispatchers that only a single 9-1-1 call had been received about the fire. It wasn’t until Friday, when he was contacted by Astoria Police Chief Rob Deu Pree, that he learned about the first call, he said.
Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted a probe of the charred fort but found no evidence that the fire was caused by arson.
Another fire investigation team from the National Park Service arrived at the park Tuesday to conduct its own probe.
Attention is focused on a fireplace in a room believed to be the fire’s starting point. A fire had been lit in the fireplace the day of the fire following a summertime fire ban.
Reader Comments Posted: Thursday, May 25, 2006
Article comment by:
Eric
As many people before have sai
Posted: Friday, March 31, 2006
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Matt C
Well at least the callers were
Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2005
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Ed Haley
It amazes me how a dispatcher
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Sali Diamond
Why do we always focus on the
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Edward Jordan
Even dispachers are human,and
Posted: Thursday, October 13, 2005
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stuart blumberg
The 911 dispatcher should be l
Posted: Thursday, October 13, 2005
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mary Zamon
