So much of my job as a fire control operator is based on local knowledge. Now that we have to grasp calls from other counties,I fear for your safetyI recently took a call from someone whose car was on fire. She was panicked and struggling to explain me an address for the fire engine. When she did manage to speak coherently, her accent was difficult to understand and I was totally unfamiliar with the area she was calling from. She wasn’t certain either. Minutes went past as I tried to get correct information. Luckily, and my colleague took another call from a passer-by,who was able to give much clearer details about the location. I’m not certain whether I ever could have got the correct details out of my caller that day. Certainly not quickly enough to have had any hope of saving her car from nearly total destruction. But how much worse would that call have been whether she’d been trapped in a house, surrounded by disorientating smoke? The most panicked people struggle to remember their first name let alone their address in those situations. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com