Fourteen Minutes of Ineptitude : Tragic 911 response marred otherwise superb citywide performance

The bungled response by city dispatchers to the Southwest Los Angeles house fire that killed a mother and three children last month serves as a tragic reminder that there can never be enough emphasis on the fundamentals: proper training, execution and supervision.

In 1994, the average response time for fires in Los Angeles was six minutes. That’s a laudable record for which all the city’s highly professional emergency personnel deserve praise.

However, in the nighttime fire that killed Beverly Middleton and three of her children in their home on 9th Avenue, firefighters arrived 14 agonizing minutes after 911 operators received the first distress call. How could the response time have risen to more than double the average?

Judging by disturbing transcripts of the incident, there was a complete communications breakdown. First a 911 operator failed to follow procedures calling for immediate transfer of an emergency caller to a fire dispatcher. Then dispatchers misunderstood the address and failed to correct the error until several more calls on the fire had come in. As lifesaving minutes ticked away, fire crews were sent to 9th Street in Koreatown, not 9th Avenue, miles away.

In cases elsewhere, even more troubling behavior has occurred on the part of 911 operators. Last year, operators in Philadelphia waited 40 minutes to send police as a 16-year-old was being beaten to death by a gang and, afterward, three operators were fired and four were disciplined for “rude and abusive” behavior.

Los Angeles officials have been honest about the mistakes and open to improvements. The importance of this positive attitude is not to be underestimated.

Under changes recommended last week, 911 operators will now include a cross street as well as the address when they relay emergency information to fire dispatchers. In addition, the fire dispatchers will now repeat the emergency messages word for word to ensure that no mistake has been made. Those are welcome steps. Let’s not see an incident like this again.