Dubbo firefighters have issued an appeal for residents to make sure they call the right number when reporting an emergency.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A number of people have been calling the Dubbo fire station rather than making the 000 call to report an emergency – an action that leads to a delayed response in what could be a life and death situation.
While only a recent trend has been seen, it’s one that could have serious consequences.
When you ring 000 to report an emergency, the support staff on the end of the phone know exactly what to do.
The operater will answer your call and ask which service you need. They will then talk through the situation with you, while in the background the police, fire, or ambulance service will be on the way to your location.
If you need them too, once you have conveyed all the information, including your correct location, the operator will stay on the phone with you until emergency personnel arrive if you need them too.
A call to 000 is the fastest way to have a emergency service personnel, be they firefighters, police or paramedics, at your location.
If you do call the local station it’s a case of double handling your report, which takes time. The emergency services are trained to deal with the incident they are responding to while those on the end of the 000 phone call are specially trained in taking emergency calls.
If you ring your local station, they then have to put the call into the communications team, passing the information on before they then respond to the incident.
These few minutes might not seem like many, but in this sort of emergency situation, they could be dire.
Triple zero is a free service, and one much easier to remember than your local brigade when you are in an emergency situation.
Following grass and house fires in the past week, firefighters in Dubbo have said their message is simple.
“There should be no confusion that in any case, we would like people to report emergencies by dialing triple zero.”
“Our message is that even if it is only small or even if you think it's not an emergency still call triple zero (000).”
So remember, in an emergency – no matter what it is – please call triple 000.
It’s an important phone number to remember, and it could save your life or the life of someone else.