Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

When reporting a fire, best to use a land line

Olivenhain incident shows the downside of using a cell phone

Friday night, February 20, a eucalyptus tree caught on fire in the 600 block of Windmill Ranch Road in Olivenhain. Around 8:00 p.m., residents Nadine and Robert noticed what they described as a “giant torch” on a neighbor’s backyard 45-foot tree. Robert dialed 911.

Using his land line, Robert claims he stayed on hold for five minutes before 911 answered. Another neighbor said he had been on hold for seven minutes.

The homeowners were not at home at the time. Robert was standing in front of his house, on hold. His wife Nadine, knowing the rural area’s history of previous wildfires, was going door-to-door alerting neighbors.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A fire truck from the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Department came from the east, heading west on El Camino del Norte. The truck mistakenly passed the house and the burning tree as it headed toward Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Robert tried to flag down the truck, wondering why a Rancho Santa Fe Fire Dept. unit responded first (Encinitas’ fire station #6 is three blocks away). The fire truck quickly returned to the fire, and Encinitas units also responded. The fire was put out quickly with some damage to a few outbuildings.

Encinitas Fire Dept. battalion chief John Blumeyer says the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection engine was responding to a report of a possible illegal burn. A caller had smelled smoke in the area but did not give the department an exact address. His department received the call from 911 dispatch at 8:06 p.m. and responded.

911 calls should be automatically routed to the local police agency or, if near a freeway, to the California Highway Patrol. But both the CHP and Encinitas’ Blumeyer confirmed, that may not always be the case.

“With cell phones, dispatch does not get an exact address,” Blumeyer said. He added it depends on which cell tower the phone hits, as to which agency gets the first call. If possible, it is better to call 911 from a land line, as dispatchers then have an exact address.

Most North County fire agencies receive their response calls from a shared dispatcher, NorthCom, run through RSF Fire. While Blumeyer couldn’t explain why it took so long for the sheriff’s dispatch to answer the 911 calls, he did explain that with so many cell phones, you’ll sometimes have 30 people calling about the same things, and the system gets overwhelmed.

Historical footnote: In the Harmony Grove fire of 1996, and the 2007 Witch Creek fire, the Encinitas community of Olivenhain was hit in its eastern boundary and evacuations of people, pets, and horses were ordered, due to the large amount of open space, shrubs, and trees — mostly quick igniting eucalypti. In the Witch Creek fire, as the fire swept from the east through Rancho Santa Fe, local residents credit a change in wind patterns that pushed the quickly approaching fire line southwest, rather than into the rural community of Olivenhain.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024

Friday night, February 20, a eucalyptus tree caught on fire in the 600 block of Windmill Ranch Road in Olivenhain. Around 8:00 p.m., residents Nadine and Robert noticed what they described as a “giant torch” on a neighbor’s backyard 45-foot tree. Robert dialed 911.

Using his land line, Robert claims he stayed on hold for five minutes before 911 answered. Another neighbor said he had been on hold for seven minutes.

The homeowners were not at home at the time. Robert was standing in front of his house, on hold. His wife Nadine, knowing the rural area’s history of previous wildfires, was going door-to-door alerting neighbors.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A fire truck from the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Department came from the east, heading west on El Camino del Norte. The truck mistakenly passed the house and the burning tree as it headed toward Rancho Santa Fe Road.

Robert tried to flag down the truck, wondering why a Rancho Santa Fe Fire Dept. unit responded first (Encinitas’ fire station #6 is three blocks away). The fire truck quickly returned to the fire, and Encinitas units also responded. The fire was put out quickly with some damage to a few outbuildings.

Encinitas Fire Dept. battalion chief John Blumeyer says the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection engine was responding to a report of a possible illegal burn. A caller had smelled smoke in the area but did not give the department an exact address. His department received the call from 911 dispatch at 8:06 p.m. and responded.

911 calls should be automatically routed to the local police agency or, if near a freeway, to the California Highway Patrol. But both the CHP and Encinitas’ Blumeyer confirmed, that may not always be the case.

“With cell phones, dispatch does not get an exact address,” Blumeyer said. He added it depends on which cell tower the phone hits, as to which agency gets the first call. If possible, it is better to call 911 from a land line, as dispatchers then have an exact address.

Most North County fire agencies receive their response calls from a shared dispatcher, NorthCom, run through RSF Fire. While Blumeyer couldn’t explain why it took so long for the sheriff’s dispatch to answer the 911 calls, he did explain that with so many cell phones, you’ll sometimes have 30 people calling about the same things, and the system gets overwhelmed.

Historical footnote: In the Harmony Grove fire of 1996, and the 2007 Witch Creek fire, the Encinitas community of Olivenhain was hit in its eastern boundary and evacuations of people, pets, and horses were ordered, due to the large amount of open space, shrubs, and trees — mostly quick igniting eucalypti. In the Witch Creek fire, as the fire swept from the east through Rancho Santa Fe, local residents credit a change in wind patterns that pushed the quickly approaching fire line southwest, rather than into the rural community of Olivenhain.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Next Article

Seals hook up with Beaver

Salty’s Escape is a Mexican-Style cerveza brewed with corn and puffed Jasmine rice
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.