Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993 TAG: 9303020264
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE and RON BROWN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
COMPUTER ERROR, HUMAN OVERSIGHT LET MOTEL BURN
Computer error and human oversight caused a 20-minute delay in dispatching firefighters to a blaze that caused more than $1 million in damage to the Holiday Inn-Salem in Roanoke County early Sunday.A spokesman for C&P Telephone confirmed Monday that the Emergency 911 computer contained an incorrect address for a pay phone the motel manager used to report the fire.
Roanoke officials acknowledged that a dispatcher contributed to the problem when she failed to verify the motel's address.
As a result, the first county fire truck did not reach the Holiday Inn until 3:20 a.m. - 33 minutes after the motel manager dialed 911.
The blaze burned out of control, causing at least $1 million in damage to the lobby, restaurant and conference rooms, according to a spokesman for Krisch Hotels Inc. of Roanoke.
The sequence of computer error and human oversight confounded Brady Shaeffer, the company's vice president for finance.
"It seems to me that someone should have realized it's the Holiday Inn-Salem," Shaeffer said.
Roanoke County officials brought in a crane Tuesday to lift the collapsed roof from the building to allow investigators to sift through the charred wreckage. They have yet to determine a cause of the fire.
The first glitch was caused by a C&P computer that incorrectly routed a 911 call from a motel pay phone to the Roanoke communications center. The call should have gone to emergency dispatchers in Roanoke County.
Don Reid, the telephone company spokesman, acknowledged that information in the computer was incorrect.
Reid said the Emergency 911 computer may have used a billing address for the company responsible for the motel's telephone bill rather than the actual address of the motel. He said he has not been able to verify that possibility.
Akram Habazi, the motel manager, dialed 911 at 2:47 a.m. Sunday to report the fire. He frantically gave Salem as the location, but a tape of the brief conversation indicates that Habazi, who speaks with an accent, was difficult to understand.
The city dispatcher who took the call did not ask Habazi to verify the address even though the 911 computer system indicated he was calling from the 387 exchange, which is generally reserved for the Salem area.
Instead, the dispatcher relied upon the computer screen that indicated the call was coming from Krisch Hotels, Inc. at 1917 Franklin Road.
"We recognize that the dispatcher did not verify the street address when the call came in," Ron Wade, the city's acting communications manager, said in a prepared statement.
"The dispatcher heard the caller say very rapidly and in a very difficult-to-understand fashion `Holiday Inn' and saw 1917 Franklin Road on the screen and dispatched a fire company to that address."
In an interview, Wade said he was not sure if written procedures called for dispatchers to verify addresses, but he said it was standard operating procedure to do so.
City firefighters dispatched to the Holiday Inn on Franklin Road reported a false alarm.
The time was 2:53 - six minutes since Habazi dialed 911.
Meanwhile, the city dispatcher replayed the audio tape and thought she heard Habazi say the location is Salem.
She called Salem dispatchers, who told her the Holiday Inn-Salem is located in Roanoke County.
In the second of two successive phone calls, the city dispatchers suggested the county send police officers to check on the motel.
County dispatchers sent police officers - with sirens sounding and lights flashing - to the Holiday Inn-Salem and two other Holiday Inns located in the county.
The time was 2:57 - 10 minutes after Habazi dialed 911.
Eight minutes later, Patrolman S.E. Yuev reported heavy smoke billowing from the Holiday Inn on Skyview Road, located on a hillside overlooking Interstate 81.
Almost simultaneously, an unidentified man called from the Omelet Shoppe on Wildwood Road in Salem to report the fire.
County dispatchers notified volunteer firefighters from Fort Lewis - the county fire station nearest the motel - and crews from three other stations.
The time was nearly 3:07 - 20 minutes after Habazi dialed 911.
Some firefighters arrived at the motel in their cars within minutes. But the first pumper truck from Fort Lewis did not arrive at the motel until 3:20.
The entire process - the 20-minute delay and 13-minute response time - took 33 minutes.
The blaze was out of control by the time firefighters arrived. Some 70 volunteers working on eight pumpers and two ladder trucks did prevent the fire from spreading across a breezeway to a three-story building that contains the motel rooms.
Habazi and guests staying in 20 occupied rooms escaped without injury. The guests checked into nearby motels for the rest of the night.
County Fire Chief Tommy Fuqua said he was pleased with the 13-minute response time once volunteers were notified. Fuqua said the actual response time may have been as short as 11 minutes, but not logged precisely because of possible delays in radio communications.
Reid said C&P has confidence in the accuracy of its 911 computer system. The incorrect address for the motel pay phone was an isolated problem, he said.
As a precaution, Reid said C&P may test all pay phones in the Roanoke Valley to make sure 911 calls go to the proper locality and that addresses are correct.
In fact, Roanoke County officials tested pay phones at all county motels on Sunday and found they all worked correctly.
"We handle thousands and thousands of 911 calls each year without a problem," county Police Chief John Cease said. "I'd hate for the public to get the impression that 911 doesn't work."