Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Sat, 29 Jun 91 19:30:24 CDT From: "Patton M. Turner" Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Emergency Calls Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 504, Message 3 of 12 Lines: 42 Gordon Burditt writes: > I claim that an 'emergency call' directed TO ME, a person who does > not work for emergency services, can never happen because an > emergency call is directed to emergency services, by both legal > definition and common sense. I disagree. Several years ago there was a wildfire near some property my family owns. I happened to drive by soon after the fire started. A friend of mine had a farm almost across the road from the fire. I intended to borrow his tractor and help put the fire out, but he had removed the key from the ignition. I open a ped containing the drop to his barn, clipped my test set on the C wire, and called his house. The line was busy, so I asked the operator to break in on the line. His wife told me were the spare key was hidden, and I got the tractor. I attached a rear blade to the tractor and got to the fire several minutes before the local fire department. Two other tractors, myself and about 20 others put the fire out in about an hour, but not before it burned a barn down. It wasn't until after the fire was out that the Alabama Forestry Commission showed up with their tractor-plow. Several years ago (1987 I think) a Sheriff in Dolmite, AL tried to serve a warrent on Frank Camper who ran a mercinary traning camp. Mr. Camper fled into wood shortly before their arrival, so the sheriff formed a posse of local turkey hunters, who tracked him down in a few hours and arrested him. Living in rural Alabama, events such as this aren't all that unusual. I've known a number of people not affilated with emergency services to be called in an emergency including SCUBA divers, pilots, boat and four wheel drive owners, hams, contractors, hunters, etc. The case could also be made for emergency calls to plant managers and engineers, personel employed in critical industries such as power, telephone, and gas companies, or people who owned equipiment or possed knowledge useful to emergency services personel. Pat Turner KB4GRZ pturner@eng.auburn