Errors That Ended in 4 Fire Deaths Described : Inquiry: Minutes after initial mix-up sent firetrucks to wrong street, other 911 calls gave correct location, deputy chief says. But response came too late.

Los Angeles fire dispatchers, who sent firetrucks to the wrong address for a blaze that took four lives early Monday, had several early chances to correct their error but apparently failed to realize it, according to information released Wednesday by a high-ranking department official assigned to investigate the tragedy.

Deputy Fire Chief Don Anthony told the City Council that at least three additional 911 calls on the fire in the 3100 block of South 9th Avenue in Southwest Los Angeles were received minutes after fire dispatchers mistakenly sent a fire company to the 3100 block of 9th Street--about four miles away in Koreatown.

The mistakes made the difference between a 14-minute response to the fire and one that would have been far closer to the department’s average response of six minutes.

“We’re looking at at least, or somewhere around, an eight-minute delay from the time we probably should have been on the scene if there had not been some mix-up in the address of the incident,” said Anthony, whose investigation report committee has already met three times.

Hours after the fire, which killed three toddlers and their mother, Anthony told reporters that a communication mishap occurred after the original 911 caller’s address failed to show up on a fire dispatcher’s computer screen. Fire dispatchers, who took the address orally from a police 911 operator, were not aware that they had made a mistake until after a fire company arrived on 9th Street and saw no fire, Anthony said.

However, Anthony said Wednesday, new information shows that at least three additional 911 calls about the 9th Avenue fire had come in by the time the firetrucks showed up on 9th Street.

Anthony, echoing remarks he made Monday, said it was unclear whether the lost minutes may have cost lives. He said he will present a full report to the council and the city Fire Commission next week.

Killed were Beverly Middleton, 36, and three of her children ages 11 months, 2, and 3. Four of the family’s other children survived the 2 a.m. blaze when 13-year-old Syreeta Middleton was able to open the security bars of a bedroom window and pull three of her younger sisters to safety.

In his brief presentation to the council, Anthony offered a new time sequence and raised additional questions concerning the communications confusion.

On Monday, Anthony said that when the initial 911 call was received at 1:54 a.m., the address from which it came never showed up on the fire dispatcher’s computer screen. Anthony also said that two additional 911 calls specifying the correct address were received between 2:01 a.m.--when firetrucks arrived at the wrong address--and 2:05 a.m.

But Anthony said Thursday that two additional 911 calls apparently came in at 1:57 or 1:58 a.m.--only three or four minutes after the initial call--and that by 2:01 at least three calls with the 9th Avenue address had been received.

Firefighters were not dispatched to the correct address until 2:05 and arrived three minutes later.

“We should have been on that fire no later than 2 a.m. or quicker,” said Anthony, terming it “a very tragic incident.”

Anthony said his report will determine how the miscommunication occurred and whether improvements can be made to the city’s 911 system to prevent future errors.

He told reporters later that confusion occasionally arises because of similarly named city streets. “There’s Union Avenue, Union Place and Union Street. And with north and south addresses and east and west addresses, they (sometimes) forget to tell you.”

Anthony said he has heard of incidents of emergency personnel being dispatched to 9th Street in San Pedro instead of 9th Street in Koreatown, both of which are handled by the same citywide 911 system. Never in his memory, he added, has such a mistake been made in a tragic fire.

Councilman Joel Wachs said the report should make clear “whose fault it was” and added that he would subsequently recommend a closed council session with attorneys “to make these people whole . . . without having to go through an additional legal ordeal.”

Councilman Nate Holden, who has called for a thorough investigation of the tragedy, urged a more cautious approach. “We’re not presupposing any (financial) liability,” he said.