Calling 911

Last week I was driving home from class around 7 PM. I was just getting off of campus and was going down a big hill that looks over the whole valley. I noticed a bunch of smoke in two locations and figured there must be some little fires. I finished going down the hill and rounded the corner and looking ahead, I saw one of the smokey areas I saw was just ahead of me! I decided to drive by to see what was on fire as the smoke was rolling out of the house, covering the front yard, and making its way across the street. I drove by slowly and noticed some people also looking at the house. No police officers or fire trucks were there and I couldn't see anything on fire, but my heart sank.

There was SO much smoke. Something had to be on fire and I worried it was maybe the attic and so the people inside didn't know. I drove past figuring someone else had called the police but then pulled over to think. My mind was contemplating the worst of course, and I remember learning in some of my classes that when people see something going wrong, everyone thinks someone else will call the police and the nobody ends up calling. I decided I would rather be safe than sorry, so, I called!

The dispatcher was very kind as I explained what I was seeing. She told me to get out and walk around and ask people if they knew what was going on. She asked me for all my information and it was astonishing to me how my brain shut down. I couldn't remember my address and I had a hard time with my phone number and birthday. I never thought being in the moment like that would scare me so much. She told me she had firemen on the way and to sit tight to direct them to the house (I couldn't see the address so I told them the general vicinity- which I also really struggled with remembering). A neighbor had run over and was running around the house trying to find out where the smoke was coming from but couldn't find anything and nobody else knew what was happening.

The first police officer arrived down the block so I ran toward him and motioned over to him. But, by the time he got to the house, almost all the smoke had dissipated. I was so confused. I told him what had happened and he told the people around he would go check it out. He said I was good to go and the whole thing had kind of scared me so I decided to head out. By the time I got back to my car, there were 3 firetrucks, a bunch of cops, ambulances, and the fire Marshall.

I was really overwhelmed- so much happened in so little time!

A little while later I got a phone call from the officer who I had talked to. He told me that the smoke I had seen wasn't from the house we thought but from the house behind it. Now, this made me SO embarrassed, but he said the people living there had just bought a bunch of smoke machines for Halloween and were trying them all out. He thanked me for my concern and told me if I had any other questions I could call the dispatcher.

OH GOOD GRIEF! Talk about being humiliated! I mean, they shut the entire street down with emergency vehicles and had firemen all dressed and ready to go and it ended up being a smoke machine! Ha.

After thinking about it though, I realized I was glad I called, because I would really rather be safe than sorry and with how much smoke was there, everyone who saw it thought the house was on fire, I was just the one to make the call.

As I have thought about the experience since then, I have decided if I ever have to call 911 again, especially if I am in my own home and something has happened to Dusty or something and I'm REALLY panicking, I want something hanging on the kitchen wall or something with the house address and some emergency information so I could reference that when my mind  is going wild. It was amazing to me how completely blank my mind went- like I said, she asked for my address on the phone and I fumbled around and tried to think of something. I know the address of where I live really well, but in the moment I couldn't remember the order of the numbers or the North, East, South, or West affiliation.

I hope my foolishness made you smile, but also makes you think about what you would do, or what your spouse and children would do if they were in a high stress situation at home and had to call 911.

Cheers! :) looking forward to seeing you all at the Harry Potter party!