LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A Little Rock woman believes her house could’ve been saved from fire if 911 would’ve answered her calls sooner. Shannon Fletcher was running errands last Thursday afternoon and came back to find smoke coming from her attic.
Standing in front of her burning home on Rivercrest Drive, the single mom says she called 911 multiple times. “I called four or five times I thought, and it just kept ringing and ringing and ringing, and no one was answering, and I panicked,” said Fletcher.
The Little Rock 911 center confirms Fletcher called at 2:41, 2:42, twice at 2:43, before finally getting through on her fifth try at 2:46 p.m.
The Little Rock Fire Department tells Channel 7 firefighters were then dispatched at 2:48 and made it to the home at 2:52 p.m.
“By the time they were here, it had spread all through the bottom of the house, and the ceilings had collapsed, and they said they couldn’t even go into the house to put out the fire,” said Fletcher.
Fletcher thinks the house she and her son lived in could have been salvaged.
“It would’ve made a huge difference if they had been able to answer when I first called,” says Fletcher. “I think a lot of that house could’ve been saved, a lot of our things could’ve been saved possibly.”
Channel 7 asked 911 Communications Manager Laura Martin about the unanswered calls.
Stressing the need for more staff, Martin points out between 2:40 and 2:48 p.m. that day the center received 48 calls, but only had two operators.
“With the staffing issues that we have, we had very few call-takers on to field 48 calls,” said Martin.
Plus, martin says when you call from a wireless phone, the phone may ring on your end before actually being sent to a 911 center.
“So, you may get four or five rings in your ear before the call is presented, and then when it’s presented, you have to keep in mind that they’re answered in the order in which they’re received,” said Martin.
And since Fletcher hung up four times she called, that put other calls ahead of her.
“If you do hang up before we’re able to answer that call, then you call right back, then all the calls in front of that are presented to us first,” said Martin.
After being asked about 911 calls going unanswered, LR 911 Comm. Mgr. urges need for more operators, advises callers not to hang up
While her home has been gutted by flames, Fletcher said that she did want to thank the firefighters and officers who responded and got there as fast as they could.
Fletcher says her community came together to help with food and clothing after the fire.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. No one was injured.
