By Bob Kalinowski
The Citizens’ Voice
LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — As a fire erupted in her home earlier this year, Holly Dzoch made a frenzied 911 call, asking a call taker to dispatch emergency crews to 76 Main St. in “Moc, Conyngham Borough.” She reiterated “Moc” meant Mocanaqua.
Luzerne County 911 soon made a fatal error, dispatching emergency crews to a location 15 miles away — an address fire crews later determined didn’t exist, according to a federal wrongful death lawsuit. The suit was filed by the family of Michelle Dzoch, 52, who died in the May 15 fire at 76 Main St. in the Mocanaqua section of Conyngham Township.
A call taker should have known Mocanaqua was in Conyngham Township — not in the borough of Conyngham — but it took more than eight minutes to end the confusion and dispatch crews to the Dzoch residence, the lawsuit says. By then, it was too late, according to the suit.
Dzoch’s survivors are suing Luzerne County, its 911 system, and multiple other county officials and employees, claiming the error was avoidable.
The lawsuit, filed by the Anzalone Law Offices, notes that the Mocanaqua volunteer fire department was only a tenth of a mile from the blaze, and the outcome could have been different if 911 had followed standard operating procedures.
Luzerne County 911 guidelines emphasize that the county has a borough and a township named Conyngham and “specifically indicates that Mocanaqua is part of Conyngham Township,” the lawsuit says.
“Although the decedent’s daughter incorrectly stated she lives in Conyngham Borough, rather than Conyngham Township, she twice stated she lived in Mocanaqua, which is in Conyngham Township,” the lawsuit says. “There is no ‘Mocanaqua section’ of Conyngham Borough.”
Two 911 employees were suspended without pay for the incorrect dispatch. One of them, Debra Pac, was fired in June.
Luzerne County Chief Solicitor David Pedri declined comment on Friday.
Investigators determined the fatal fire began with Dzoch’s two grandchildren playing with a lighter in a bedroom. Firefighters found Dzoch’s body in a second-floor room after the fire was extinguished. The coroner’s office ruled her death accidental.
Luzerne County Coroner Bill Lisman has said determining Dzoch’s exact time of death is “an impossibility” and that there is no way to know if the delay in dispatching the closer fire department played a role in her death.
The lawsuit makes a different claim.
“As a result of the delay in dispatch of appropriate fire rescue crews .... Michelle Ann Dzoch experienced an increased risk of harm that resulted in her death,” the suit says.
TIMELINE: A federal lawsuit filed by survivors of Michelle Dzoch details what it claims were errors made by Luzerne County 911 in dispatching fire crews to a blaze that killed Dzoch on May 15 in Mocanaqua, Conyngham Township. Here is the sequence of events, according to the lawsuit:
10:46 a.m.: Holly Dzoch calls 911, reports fire at her family’s home at 76 Main St. in “Moc, Conyngham Borough.”
10:48 a.m.: Luzerne County 911 dispatches Hazle Township, Sugarloaf and Valley Regional fire departments to an address in Conyngham Borough that crews later determine “doesn’t exist.” Dispatcher says fire is in “Conyngham, Mocanaqua section.”
10:49 a.m.: Responding fire crews question address, reminding 911 Mocanaqua is in Conyngham Township, not the borough. They radio for 911 to ask Mocanaqua fire department to “check on their Main Street.” 911 doesn’t respond.
10:49 a.m.: Caller says he sees fire near 80 Main St. Call taker asks whether it’s in Conyngham Borough or Conyngham Township. The man says Mocanaqua.
10:50 a.m.: 911 dispatcher says Mocanaqua will be dispatched to “check their Main Street,” but dispatch is not immediately made.
10:52 a.m.: Another eyewitness to fire reports blaze and mentions Main Street, Mocanaqua, as the location several times.
10:54 a.m.: 911 dispatches Mocanaqua fire department, which is one-tenth of a mile from fire.
10:55 a.m. Mocanaqua fire department is en route and soon starts to battle blaze.
2:50 p.m.: Michelle Dzoch, 52, is pronounced dead inside 76 Main St. in Mocanaqua, Conyngham Township.
___
(c)2014 The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC