By Kevin Valine, Modesto Bee
Oakdale, Calif. — Firefighters were delayed by several minutes in responding to a house fire last week because a 9-1-1 dispatcher sent the call to the wrong fire department, officials confirmed Monday.

The Stanislaus Regional 9-1-1 Center dispatcher then correctly sent the call to Oakdale after another person reported the fire. But the dispatcher’s mistake meant it took about six minutes to dispatch Oakdale firefighters, said Lucian Thomas, the 9-1-1 center director.

He said firefighters typically are dispatched in less than two minutes and that it’s not unusual to dispatch them in less than a minute.

“It looks to be our error,” Thomas said, adding that he expects his investigation to be complete within two weeks. “It’s a people business, and unfortunately when people are involved, sometimes mistakes happen. But we do everything we can to prevent these mistakes from happening again.”

The delay did not make a difference in the Oakdale house fire, in the 200 block of California Avenue, but it may have mattered at the two nearby homes that were damaged in 1 a.m. Wednesday blaze.

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