Teh One Who Knocks
02-17-2014, 12:39 PM
Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian
An emergency call about a stuck zipper topped week three of the Washington County dispatch agency’s “You called 911 for that?!” campaign.
A man called 911 because the zipper was stuck on his wife’s coat and she could not get it off. The man told the dispatcher, the agency wrote on the its Facebook page, that he didn’t want to ruin the coat and needed help.
Mark Chandler, a spokesman for the dispatch center, said a fire crew responded to help the man and his wife. Firefighters removed the coat without damaging it.
Operator: 911, Police Fire and Medical.
Caller: Yeah we got a problem here. My wife is struggling in her jacket and can’t get it off. I want 911 here immediately.
Operator: Is she not breathing?
Caller: She’s alright, she just can’t get her jacket off.
Caller: ‘I don’t want to cut it off, it’s a nice jacket.’
The campaign’s goal, the agency says, is to educate people on the proper use of the emergency service. Each week, the “most ridiculous use” will be posted on the dispatch center’s Facebook page and Twitter account.
In response to the stuck-zipper call, the agency – officially known as WCCCA – posted this on its Facebook page: “Our non-emergency number (503-629-0111) is not only for non-urgent police issues! It can and should also be used for non-urgent fire issues.”
Chandler said the pitch of the 911 calls has been modified to camouflage the callers’ voices.
People, Chandler said, should use 911 for police-, fire- or medical-related emergencies “when life or property is in jeopardy and immediate assistance is necessary.”
An emergency call about a stuck zipper topped week three of the Washington County dispatch agency’s “You called 911 for that?!” campaign.
A man called 911 because the zipper was stuck on his wife’s coat and she could not get it off. The man told the dispatcher, the agency wrote on the its Facebook page, that he didn’t want to ruin the coat and needed help.
Mark Chandler, a spokesman for the dispatch center, said a fire crew responded to help the man and his wife. Firefighters removed the coat without damaging it.
Operator: 911, Police Fire and Medical.
Caller: Yeah we got a problem here. My wife is struggling in her jacket and can’t get it off. I want 911 here immediately.
Operator: Is she not breathing?
Caller: She’s alright, she just can’t get her jacket off.
Caller: ‘I don’t want to cut it off, it’s a nice jacket.’
The campaign’s goal, the agency says, is to educate people on the proper use of the emergency service. Each week, the “most ridiculous use” will be posted on the dispatch center’s Facebook page and Twitter account.
In response to the stuck-zipper call, the agency – officially known as WCCCA – posted this on its Facebook page: “Our non-emergency number (503-629-0111) is not only for non-urgent police issues! It can and should also be used for non-urgent fire issues.”
Chandler said the pitch of the 911 calls has been modified to camouflage the callers’ voices.
People, Chandler said, should use 911 for police-, fire- or medical-related emergencies “when life or property is in jeopardy and immediate assistance is necessary.”