Frightened Teen Follows Directions : Dispatcher’s Phone Call Rescues Sick Girl From Fire

An asthmatic girl trapped Monday inside her burning San Carlos home was given life-saving instructions over the telephone while firefighters were en route to rescue the 13-year-old and her three pets.

Fire Department dispatcher Barbara Bouchard called the burning house after a third party reported that the Highwood Drive structure was in flames about 10:46 a.m., said San Diego Fire Department spokesman Mel Young.

Bouchard reached Kimberly Ann Spence, who was home alone in the master bedroom because she was sick with a cold.

“She answered the phone and said hello calmly,” Bouchard said. “As soon as she found out who I was, she began crying.”

Bouchard told Kimberly to close the door to the room, open the window and place wet towels on her face to aid her breathing, Young said. Bouchard also stayed on the line to calm the frightened girl, who she said was crying until she was rescued by firefighters.

Bouchard said she believes that her instructions may have saved Kimberly’s life. “She was crying and had trouble breathing,” said Bouchard, a dispatcher with the city for eight years. “Anything anybody told her would have helped her at that point.”

While on the line, Spence told Bouchard that two dogs and her pet bird also were trapped in the home. They were rescued by firefighters, Young said.

Bouchard said Spence sounded frightened throughout the conversation, but followed all of her directions perfectly. “She didn’t use the 911 number, but that was the only thing she did wrong,” Bouchard said.

Kimberly first called her mother, Elizabeth Spence, at the Kearny Mesa printing office where she works and told her of the fire. A co-worker then contacted the Fire Department and gave Bouchard the Spence phone number.

If Kimberly had called 911 first, the firefighters could have arrived five or 10 minutes sooner, authorities said.

Upon arrival, firefighters found the first and second floors filled with thick, black smoke that reduced visibility to inches.

John Spence, who was sifting through the soot left by the fire Monday, said his daughter had told him that because of the smoke she could not even see the face of firefighter Roger Reich, who rescued her.

Spence was taken to Grossmont Hospital, where she was treated for smoke inhalation and later released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

John Spence said the family had planned escape routes in the event of a fire. But because Kimberly was in her parents’ room and not her own, she knew of no escape route.

Kimberly’s room is above the garage of the house, which makes for an easy escape, John Spence said.

“She knew how to go out of the window and to the ledge where she could slide down safely . . . we taught her how to do that,” he said of the escape route planned for Kimberly’s room. “She knew what she was supposed to do, she was just in the wrong room to do it.”

The Metro Arson Strike Team reported the cause of the fire to be an electrical short in a stereo unit in the living room, which was the only room affected by the flames. The rest of the house, which sustained $60,000 in damage, suffered smoke damage.