Susan Spencer, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Upton, Massachusetts: There’s a sign at the Upton Fire Department that says, “Have an emergency? Call 911.”

Fire Chief Aaron Goodale wants residents to take that message to heart and call 911 when they need an ambulance, have a fire or have an activated carbon monoxide alarm, instead of calling the department’s business line.

Calling the business line in an emergency can waste minutes at a time when every second counts, Chief Goodale said.

The emergency 911 center, which dispatches calls for both police and fire, is next door to the fire station and is covered around the clock. The Fire Department, which has five full-time firefighters and 45 call firefighters, is staffed Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and firefighters might be out of the station when a call comes in.

If one of the firefighters picks up the business line, he has to use a piece of paper and pen to transcribe the message, get the address and phone number and send it to the dispatcher next door.

Chief Goodale said, “We’re putting people on hold, which is never good.”

He said the problem of people calling the Fire Department line when they have an emergency has been ongoing but has gotten worse lately.

“We’ve noticed an uptick over the last few months,” he said. “Sometimes we get one or two a day.”

Chief Goodale said callers seem reluctant to use 911 because they’re uncomfortable with it or aren’t sure about when it’s appropriate. They say things on the business line like, “I didn’t want to bother anyone. It’s really not an emergency but my stove’s on fire.”

Worse, callers have left messages on the department’s answering machine for after-hours calls, saying they have a carbon monoxide alarm going off and they want someone to check on it.

After years of teaching children not to make frivolous 911 calls, Chief Goodale said, “Maybe we’re at a point now where it’s appropriate to (teach people to) call 911.”

He said, “We have a SAFE officer here and we’re ramping up our education in schools. Any outreach we do, we’ll be talking about that as well.”

Chief Goodale said that the Fire Department is still eager to take calls on its business line about scheduling inspections, fire safety questions and other matters that do not need an immediate response.

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