Communication Failure

The fire season, which already has seen the worst blaze in the city’s history, is still young, but this much is clear: local fire departments had better learn the proper way to request assistance.

The transcript of the conversation last Sunday between a city fire dispatcher and the California Department of Forestry unfortunately shows that not only was the proper procedure for requesting air tanker support not followed, but no sense of urgency was conveyed by the San Diegan.

That first conversation between the two agencies occurred about 1 p.m. It was nearly 6:30 p.m. when a tanker dropped the first fire retardant on the Normal Heights fire. Forestry officials say that, had the San Diego dispatcher used an order number when requesting aid, planes would have been sent to the fire hours earlier than they were. It also might have helped had the dispatcher described the fire and conveyed more vividly the fact that the blaze had the potential to wipe out an entire neighborhood. Reading the text of the 38-second conversation, it is easy to see how the Forestry Department failed to grasp the situation.

Without speculating how the outcome might have been different if air support had arrived earlier, it is fair to say that when a fire is causing more than $8.5 million damage, there is no time to waste on bad communications. The firefighters on the line gave their best in brutal conditions. They deserved to have the best support possible.