By Terry Karkos
Sun Journal
MEXICO, Maine — A miscommunication involving an emergency dispatcher in Paris fielding a 911 call Thursday night about a grease fire in a Mexico apartment building created several tense, confusing moments for firefighters.
Initially, Mexico and Rumford firefighters weren’t told that the fire inside a third-floor apartment at the rear of a brick building at 119 Main St. was a short walk across the street from the Mexico fire station.
“It’s frustrating,” fire Chief Gary Wentzell said of the miscommunication after firefighters evacuated tenants inside the building, including small children who were taking baths, and then located the small fire in Katheryn Parise’s kitchen and quickly extinguished it.
Shortly before 7 p.m., Rumford firefighters were toned out for a structure fire at 119 Main St.
“All we heard was 119 Main St.,” Rumford firetruck driver Jeremy Volkernick said Thursday night. “They never said what town it was in. We were saying, ‘What town? What town?’ We have a Maine Avenue and (Mexico) has a Main Street.”
Normally, an Oxford County dispatcher in Paris will notify the fire department of the town where the fire is located, Wentzell said. Both Rumford and Mexico have automatic mutual aid with each other on structure fires, so when one is called to a building fire, the other heads for it.
When the call came in toning Rumford out first, then Mexico, responding firefighters thought the fire was in Rumford and everyone rolled at the same time.
“Of course, then everyone was tracking all over each other (on radios) trying to reach the dispatcher to find out where the fire was,” Wentzell said.
The second tone called out Med-Care Ambulance first, then Mexico and Rumford fire departments, who were all told that the fire was at 119 Main St. in a brick apartment building, and that tenants had yet to be evacuated.
Finally, a Rumford firefighter got through radio traffic to the dispatcher and learned that the fire was in Mexico.
Dixfield and Mexico police also responded and helped with traffic control.
Wentzell said Parise, who had only lived in the apartment for a week, had a grease fire in a pan on the stove and put the pan in the sink and turned on the water faucet. The fire rapidly flared up and burned about a square foot of wood, before a Mexico firefighter rushed in and put it out, Wentzell added.
After several minutes, tenants were allowed back in. There were no injuries.
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