By Bryan Fitzgerald, The Times-Union
Original publication date: Feb. 10

Troy, N.Y. — Firefighters said an RPI dispatcher gave them the wrong address to fight an on-campus arson Tuesday night, delaying their response by 30 minutes.

Fire Chief Tom Garrett said his department received a call around 6 p.m. for a fire at the Student Union at the corner of 15th Street and Sage Avenue.

After finding no fire in the building, firefighters said they received a call around 6:30 p.m. from a campus dispatcher telling them the fire was at the Burdett Avenue Residence Hall’s dining room.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished three small fires started with sheets of paper in stalls of the men’s bathroom. No one was injured.

Garrett said the damage was minimal but could have been catastrophic.

“A 30-minute delay is inexcusable,” Garrett said.

In July 2009, Garrett questioned a 12-minute delay in reporting a fire at the Jonsson-Rowland Science Center after the call went first through the college public safety office. Fifteen city firefighters were sent to a local emergency room for tests after responding to the fire.

Garrett also has battled with RPI over emergency road access to the campus computing center, while the chief and the firefighters have called for the university to fund additional firefighters to respond to campus calls.

Emergency calls made with a campus-owned phone at RPI first go through a dispatcher at the college’s public safety office, which relays the call to the local 911 dispatcher.

Garrett said the college dispatcher provided incorrect information and said RPI’s emergency response system is “not a good one.”

RPI spokesman Mark Marchand said the system had worked extremely well in the past.

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