By Kathryn Marchocki
The Union Leader
Copyright 2007 Union Leader Corp.
All Rights Reserved
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Fire Chief Joseph P. Kane said there was about a 63-second delay in reaching a victim on Overland Street March 8 because Station 9 was left empty and a crew from a station house about two miles away had to respond.
Meanwhile, several firefighters said they still could have gotten to the stricken man before the ambulance even with Station 9 out of quarters if the call had been classified as an advanced life support situation from the start.
The first two 911 emergency calls that came into Manchester fire dispatchers from the emergency communications center in Concord classified the situation as non-life threatening, sending out only an ambulance traveling without lights and siren and stopping with traffic, according to fire officials and the 911 tape.
More than 3 1/2 minutes later, another 911 emergency dispatcher contacted Manchester fire to say the victim “was not conscious and did not appear to be breathing” and the call was upgraded to an advanced life support response and a fire engine dispatched, the tape and Kane said.
According to the tape and incident report, Engine 3 got to the scene in less than seven minutes; it took the ambulance about 8 1/2 minutes to get to the man.
Station 9 is the nearest station to Overland and Norfolk streets and normally would have responded to the call, but the on-duty crew -- with the permission of supervisors -- was downtown cooking corned beef and cabbage for the annual fire chiefs dinner.
Instead, Engine 3 was sent to help the man who collapsed and later died. Engine 3 is on South Willow Street about two miles away.
Retired Fire Capt. James R. Roy, who worked at Station 9, questioned why 911 emergency communications dispatchers only sent an ambulance for the first two 911 calls for a man down.
“The response needed to be handled better from the beginning. What is the criteria that 911 used to send only an ambulance?” Roy asked. “It was three minutes into the run before any fire apparatus or fire personnel were dispatched.”
Wanda Hemeon, spokesman for the state Bureau of Emergency Communications, said emergency medical dispatchers follow nationally recognized protocols in classifying an emergency and determining the response needed.
There is no room for subjective judgment, added Hemeon, who noted she was speaking in general terms and not specifically about the March 8 incident. Dispatchers rely on what callers tell them.
“It all depends on the quality of the information that you get and that starts right at the beginning of the call,” Hemeon explained.
The first call came into Manchester fire dispatchers from 911 emergency communications in Concord at 12:08 p.m. reporting a caller who “said she saw a man lying in the snowbank,” dispatch tapes reveal.
The call was classified an “alpha response,” which meant an ambulance was dispatched without lights and siren and traveling with traffic.
The 911 emergency communications dispatcher contacted Manchester fire again at 12:09 p.m. saying “the caller said he (victim) was lying in the street and it was a dog that was in the snowbank,” the tape shows.
At 12:11 p.m., another 911 emergency dispatcher contacted Manchester fire to report the caller “said he was not conscious and did not appear to be breathing and she was with him.” This upgraded the response to advanced life support and Manchester fire sent Engine 3, Kane said.