Questions arise after DuPont fire

Error by emergency operator slows crews to extinguish blaze

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published July 29, 2008

• Comments (0)

DUPONT – It took firefighters 12 minutes to arrive at an early morning fire that destroyed a DuPont home Friday because of a dispatcher's error, fire officials said Monday.

That time is much slower than DuPont's average dispatch time for 2007 — seven minutes and 25 seconds — said Robert Merritt, DuPont's interim fire chief.

It was enough to draw about 100 neighbors to a town hall meeting Monday night at Chloe Clark Elementary School titled "After the Fire," where firefighters explained what happened.

"It's just frustrating for us to be there and to feel like we're not being protected," said Jennifer Owens, who lives two houses from the house that was destroyed. She was one of several neighbors who called 9-1-1 at about dawn Friday to report the blaze.

The house, in the 2200 block of Forrest Street, belongs to Roy and Kelly McIntyre's family. The couple and their 11-year-old daughter, Samantha, escaped without serious injury, though Roy McIntyre sprained both ankles. His other daughter, Melissa, 18, was not home.

Fire dispatchers were notified at 5:22 a.m. Merritt said a dispatcher erred by initially sending out a set of tones over firefighter radios that activated only the Lakewood Fire Department, which is farther away. That was at 5:23 a.m. Three minutes passed before the dispatcher discovered the error and alerted the DuPont department. DuPont firefighters arrived at 5:34 a.m. and Lakewood units joined them between 5:35 and 5:36 a.m.

The confusion was caused because the DuPont and Lakewood departments are talking about merging, and the dispatcher thought the departments used the same tone, Merritt said in an interview. Twenty-one firefighters eventually responded to the blaze.

But it wouldn't have changed the outcome if firefighers responded faster, Merritt said. The fire probably was caused by a discarded cigarette or match that smoldered undetected before flaring up, said Lakewood Capt. Michael Dobbs, who investigated the cause.

The device landed in mulch and smoldered for perhaps hours before igniting the house, he said. Dobbs said Roy McIntyre said he smoked on the patio and used a metal bucket to collect butts.

McIntyre praised firefighters, but he said he didn't start the fire. He said he smoked his last cigarette at about 10 the night before.

"There's no way it's a loose cigarette," McIntyre said in an interview at the hotel where he's now staying. "I would never put my kid or my family in jeopardy like that."

He questioned whether an electrical problem started the fire. But he wasn't bitter. He noted that firefighters found the family's beloved 11-year-old leopard gecko — alive.

"I place no fault," he said. "I place no blame.

"Accidents happen."