DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A year after a Dunwoody woman died in a fire, her family has reached a settlement with DeKalb County.
Last January, Ann Bartlett called 911. The firefighters who responded never got out of their trucks to get a closer look at the home. Hours later, firefighters were called back to the home. By that time, flames had engulfed the house and Bartlett was dead.
DeKalb County and five firefighters were named in a lawsuit in April. CBS Atlanta News obtained documents detailing the settlement. It awards the Bartlett family $200,000 and releases the county and firefighters from any further legal action.
Ruth Bartlett said she and her sisters are hopeful DeKalb County is making the appropriate changes.
As a result of the Bartlett case, interim DeKalb County Fire Chief Eddie O’Brien said the department has made changes to several operational procedures.
According to O’Brien, these are the changes:
1. Full review and revision of the Incident Command guideline. Distributed and education completed.
2. Clarify with personnel that Command shall be established on all calls.
3. A Battalion Chief will proceed to the location of reported fire to verify findings of the Incident Commander (Unit on scene). Previously, the Incident Commander could cancel all additional incoming units if they could handle the incident.
4. A 360 walk around of the location of a reported fire. Previous guideline stated that a size up occurs and the update included a walk around be completed with the Nothing Showing mode and other modes of operation.
5. Clarification on level 1 staging. Previous guideline stated additional units stage and wait for assignments. New guideline states that the staged units are not exempt from the responsibility of command and safety if other units are neglecting their duties. This is a clarification in the event that the first unit fails to follow the Incident Command guideline that the staged unit shall step in and handle critical factors.
6. Clarification on what is expected if an address is not located. The AOIC/Officer shall establish command at the dispatched location and then request additional information from the communications center.
7. Add additional critical factors to the guideline. They include Address, Call Back Number, Information on the MDT, Location of Incident, Size Up and a 360 view.
8. Education on ANI/ALI. This is the term used by the Communications Center to verify where a 911 call originated from. ANI is the Automatic Number Identification and ALI is Automatic Location Identification. This is a verification that is associated with a home phone line that is used to confirm where a call originates from. This contains the callers address, phone number and who the number is assigned to.
9. Review of the AOIC class. This is the Acting Officer In Charge Class that is used to train personnel to be certified to be an acting officer.
10. Review of GIS mapping that has been updated on the MDT (Mobile Data Terminal), the computer in the vehicle. The system locates an address that units are dispatched too and places a red dot in the vicinity of the location. This information is validated as an actual address in the official county tax records. Employees can manually place an address in the field to verify or use this tool to look up street addresses.
Republished with permission from CBS Atlanta.