We’ve been asked by dispatchers from several different agencies in Contra Costa County to remind people not to call 911 if you smell smoke.
Only call 911 if you see flames or a plume of smoke nearby, or in case of any other emergency.
Several fires are burning throughout California, and smoke is settling in the Bay Area. Please keep the emergency lines clear for real emergencies.
Thank you.
12 comments
What if there are only 8 chicken nuggets in my 9 piece meal?
You will live one nugget longer 🙂
but where there’s smoke there’s fire
I’m a dispatch supervisor for an agency in Alameda County and I’m really glad you guys posted this.. I cannot tell you how insane the past few days have been, 911 centers are being overwhelmed and a majority of the calls are stupid calls with people just asking about the smoke. Unless you are reporting a true and progress life-or-death emergency that you are witnessing please do not dial 911. If you have a question about air quality then you need to contact the Bay area air quality management district, they have a website that provides updates on air quality.
I took a call on Sunday from a man who demanded to know what my agency was doing about the smoke . He said it was unacceptable for the government to allow this to happen and he was furious that his children could not play outside.
Nobody can understand true stupidity until you work in a 911 center and have to deal with the ridiculous calls we take every single day while we are trying to actually deal with real life-or-death emergencies and help save lives.
Thank you Claycord for posting this!
@Mike
Thank you for being an integral part of community services!
I know plenty of people who have made or have attempted to make a similar phone call and I had to talk them out of it. I had someone once call 911 on a homeless person sleeping outside because “the non-emergency line takes to long” and I almost had to call 911 on myself for assault on this numbskull. The police came and asked us to please stop calling emergency services for non-emergency services and this person didn’t care. I had the pleasure of firing them not to long after that for other dumbassery.
It’s too easy to sit on your couch and have the phone at your disposal to call 911. If People would just go outside or speak with their neighbors they would discover that the house two doors down is getting a new roof or the street on the next block is being repaved. Or that the guy across the street is working on his car and that what the Gasoline smell is.
Kinda sad that this has to be explained.
What if it is coming from your neighbors house?
Ahhh, add a couple buckets of gasoline (purely if they aren’t good people, don’t have security cameras and are out of the house, because of illegality issues!)
Folks are looking for guidance. This new fire phenomena is unprecedented, and has disrupted many lives. Help your neighbors by being patient. Not everyone knows what the heck to do during a fire , power outage, windstorm, or evacuation. This is what we are up against.
And where is the mayor of Concord during this desperate time. She could reach out to her community even if she is out of town. Again, citizens need guidance at this time and it would be great if we heard from city leaders.
Wow. You need city government to guide you at anything?
Maybe Darwin could help those who are need to call 911 to ask questions instead of turning on a news source
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