Transcript of 999 call
Control Operator: What’s on fire?
11 year old girl: My mum’s kitchen
Control Operator: It’s the kitchen on fire?
11 year old girl: Yep, we are upstairs
Control Operator: Can you get out of the house?
11 year old girl: I don’t know. We are in my mum’s bedroom now
Control Operator: You’re in your mum’s bedroom. Alright, can you get out of the house at all?
11 year old girl: No
Control Operator: You can’t, you’re stuck in the house?
11 year old girl: Yes, yes
Control Operator: Is your mum there?
(Girl passes the phone to her mother)
Control Operator: Hello?
Mother: (Sounds very distressed) Hello
Control Operator: Hello, The kitchen is on fire is it?
Mother: The kitchen is on fire
Control Operator: Right, can you get out of the house?
Mother: Erm
Control Operator: How many children are upstairs?
Mother: Two – they are all in my room
Control Operator: Two children upstairs
Mother: There was a fire and my house alarm went off
Control Operator: It’s alright; we are on the way to you
Mother: Are the fire engines on their way?
Control Operator: The fire engines are on their way. Are you all upstairs in the front bedroom now? Right, the two children and yourself and there is nobody else in the house.
Mother: Yes
Control Operator: Right the fire engines are on their way. Right, can you close the bedroom door?
Mother: Yes (tell her children to close the door)
Control Operator: Close and bedroom door and have you got something that you could put underneath the door like a duvet?
(Mother screams and shouts)
Control Operator: Listen to me
(11 year old girl comes back on the phone)
11 year old girl: Hello
Control Operator: Is it the front bedroom you are in?
11 year old girl: Yeh
Control Operator: You are in the front bedroom and the fire is in the kitchen?
11 year old girl: Yes
Control Operator: You’ve closed the bedroom door now?
11 year old girl: Yes, there is smoke coming in.
Control Operator: There is smoke still coming in, is it? Can you put your duvet or something at the bottom of the door?
(Mother comes back on the telephone)
Mother: I have
Control Operator: That will stop the smoke coming in. Stay down low on the floor
Mother: It’s not coming in
Control Operator: It’s not what?
Mother: I’ve put the lights on and can see everything and there’s no smoke in the room
Control Operator: There’s no smoke in the room? Alright, well stay low down on the floor
(Mother very distressed asks how everyone can get in)
Control Operator: Alright, can you get to the window? If the bedroom door is shut, can you open your bedroom window?
Mother: I’ve left my handbag and my front door keys are in it
Control Operator: You don’t need the keys; they’ll get in to you. Forget about your keys
(Mother is now very upset and is crying)
Control Operator: Alright, just forget about your keys. The fireman will stay…
(Mother continues to cry)
Control Operator: Alright, calm down. What’s your name?
Mother: Pauline
Control Operator: How old are your children?
Mother: Nine and eleven
Control Operator: Nine and eleven – are they both girls?
Mother: No
Control Operator: You’ve got a boy and a girl. My name is Susan and I’ll stay on the line until the firemen get to you. They are on the way now and the people working with me are on the radio to them telling them where you are in the house.
Mother: Right
Control Operator: Alright
Mother: I’ve opened the blinds
Control Operator: You’ve opened the blinds. Have you… Can you open the window?
Mother: I tried to put the fire out with a tea towel and I put it in the wash and the curtains caught fire.
Control Operator: Alright, it was the tea towel and the curtains – well don’t worry about it. You just keep that bedroom door closed
Mother: The smoke alarm is going off
Control Operator: The smoke alarm is going off. Did it wake you up - the smoke alarm?
Mother: No, my house alarm
Control Operator: The burglar alarm
Mother: Burglars
(Mother shouts to someone)
Control Operator: Who is there?
Mother: My husband (shouts down to husband who is outside) Hang on there, you can’t come in.
Control Operator: Where is your husband now?
Mother: He’s breaking it down. (Shouts to husband) Don’t go in.
Control Operator: Don’t let him go into the fire
Mother: That’s what I’m saying don’t go in, the fire brigade are on their way
Control Operator: Get him in the same room as you
Mother: He’s trying to get in through the front door. He’s outside.
Control Operator: He’s outside, is he, your husband?
Mother: He’s outside trying to come in.
Control Operator: Tell your husband to…
(Mother interrupts)
Mother: It’s a big fire; he is going to come in.
Control Operator: Alright,
Mother: (Shouts to her husband) Stay outside
Control Operator: Tell him to stay outside, you are safe up there
Mother: Nigel, she says don’t go in. All the locks are on. Nigel
Control Operator: It’s alright
Mother: He’s gone in
Control Operator: Where’s he gone to now? Your husband?
Mother: He’s in the house
Control Operator: He has gone into the house. To the fire or is he coming up to you?
Mother: I don’t know. He has gone through the front door and I can’t see him
Control Operator: He’s gone to the front door? So, do you think he’s gone through to the kitchen?
Mother: Yes. He must have opened the door as the smoke alarm is going off again
Control Operator: The pumps are on their way but you just stay...
Mother interrupts
Mother: The kitchen is on fire
Control Operator: I know the kitchen is on fire. Don’t worry, we are coming we will get you out and we’ll put the fire out.
Mother: What? (Shouts to her husband) I am on the phone to them
Control Operator: Is your husband there now?
Mother: He’s coming in through the door
Control Operator: What’s coming in through the door?
Mother: He was coming through the door and he’s saying don’t panic.
Control Operator: He's saying don’t panic.
Mother shouts something about the smoke alarm
Control Operator: Alright, is he coming into the room with you now?
Mother: He was coming through the bedroom door and then… I don’t know what he’s doing
Control Operator: Right, he’s opened the door? Is he not coming in the room with you? Can you not tell him to come into the room and stay with you and the children?
(Mother shouts to the children)
Control Operator: Alright, is there still no smoke in that room?
Mother: No, there is no smoke in the room.
Control Operator: Alright, are you still near the window but on the floor. Alright, the fire engines are there now.
Mother: They are here now.
Control Operator: Can you see them? Can you wave to them?
(Mother cries)
Mother: They’ve seen me.
Control Operator: Alright, calm down. Alright, don’t cry you are alright. They will come and get you. Are the children still in there with you?
(Mother cries)
Control Operator: Pauline, are the children still with you?
Mother: Yes, they are with me, I'll not let them out of my sight
Control Operator: Alright, calm down they are here now. You have got two appliances there now, two fire engines – you’ve got all three fire engines there now. We’ll come and get you.
Control Operator: Hello
(Pause)
Control Operator: Are you still there?
Line goes quiet as firefighters are in the house rescuing the family and putting the fire out.