The Arizona Daily Star
TUCSON, Ariz. — Bystanders waved down crews on the way to an eastside house fire Saturday, and pointed them in the wrong direction, delaying their arrival on the scene.
Firefighters were dispatched at 12:30 p.m. to a home in the 3500 block of South Austin Place near the intersection of East Stella and South Kolb roads.
“Crews were responding to the scene and getting close to the dispatch address, which was in a cul-de-sac, when several bystanders — between six and 10 — waved at the engine company, pointing in a different direction,” Capt. Barrett Baker, spokesman for the Tucson Fire Department, said in a news release. “This took place at a T in the road with two directions possible. The two closest units split up, one following the directions of the bystanders, one going to the dispatch address. The bystanders were incorrect in this case and the engine company immediately radioed to all other units to proceed to the dispatch address.
“The more information the better for responding crews but the information has to be accurate,” Baker said. “Bystanders, trying to help, actually delayed the crews in this case.”
Before crews arrived, the residents of the duplex — a 57-year-old grandfather, a couple in their 30s and their three children, ages 3, 6 and 13 — had evacuated, Baker said.
Once on scene, firefighters saw heavy smoke coming from the rear of a duplex. Hose lines were pulled into the unit and firefighters began extinguishing the flames. They were able to confine the fire to one unit.
While crews on the inside were extinguishing the fire, a ladder crew was on the roof cutting a hole to vent the smoke and heat, Baker said.
It took nine units and 23 firefighters 16 minutes to bring the blaze under control.
One of the residents told investigators her children were in the backyard when they saw smoke coming from a storage room.
“She opened the door and saw fire in the room and immediately began getting her kids and getting out of the home,” Baker said.
Investigators determined the fire was accidental, Baker said. It started in dryer vent in an exterior laundry room.
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