A Durham 911 dispatcher has been fired after not following procedure and giving crews the wrong address in a fatal fire.

The dispatcher was let go Aug. 27 because she did not ask for a phone number during a fire more than a week ago.

"We're in shock. It's rare that a fire causes a death in your neighborhood."

Some of the neighbors blame this 911 call for a delay in fire crew response time.

Caller: "115 Shantercliff Place...A house is on fire."

911 Dispatcher: "Spell the street."

Caller: "S-h-a-n-t-e-r-c-l-i-f-f"

911 Dispatcher: "I still didn't get the street, spell the street."

Caller: "Shantercliff!"

The 911 caller was using a Vonage phone, which sometimes doesn't fully register with 911. Despite the caller spelling the street name three times, the dispatcher still sent fire crews to the wrong address.

Dispatcher: "Fire Report: A fire at 7005 Chanticleer"

Because of the error, the wrong fire department was dispatched, resulting in a four minute and 32 second delay.
The Durham Emergency Response Center reviewed the tape.

Director Jim Soukup said the neighbor was on a cell phone with a Vonage Service provider which did not allow the location of the caller to display in the 911 system. He said dispatcher Theresa Hopkins also failed to follow their procedure for when location information does not come through.

"She could have asked for intersections, she could have asked are you in North Durham or South Durham, something to narrow it down," Soukup said.

Receiving the wrong information caused fire trucks on the south side of town to be dispatched to the wrong address. Before they could get there crews just miles from the fire noticed smoke and headed to the scene.

"That could be the difference between life and death getting someone dispatched to the right address," Rogers said.