911 can't always locate cell phones

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - You trust that your cell phone will work in an emergency, but there's something your phone can't do that could put your life at risk.

Many people have come to rely on cell phones for a lot of things.

In the event of an emergency, don't think you can dial 911 and the call taker will know exactly where you are, that's not always the case.

If you dial 911 from a cell phone, there's no guarantee that emergency responders will know your exact location.

Michelle Kerr of Erie County 911 Center said, "People assume because they have the GPS chip with their cell phone we know where they are, and that's not necessarily the case."

The tragic case of a Cheektowaga fire that left a father and his two daughters dead in December brought to light serious concerns about response time.

A young woman's frantic 911 call from a smoke filled Hyland home, set in motion an unfortunate chain of events.

"It was absolutely horrific. It was the worse phone call that I've listened to. And I've been in the business since 1972," said Peter Vito, of Erie County Central Police Services.

Vito says when the woman called she could not provide 911 call takers with any information.

They could not get an address, and did not know the nature of the call.

"This was not anything that anybody did wrong," said Cheektowaga Police Captain John Glascott.

What's more, the cell call bounced off of a tower in Depew, when in fact her location was in Cheektowaga.

Erie County 911 had to retransmit the call several times for a better location, alert Depew dispatch, which realized it was actually a Cheektowaga address.

Then police had to find the right house, determine that it was a fire and call for trucks.

Finally the fire department arrived. By that time, 28 minutes had gone by since the woman's initial 911 call.

"It's too long. Luke, that's too long. Nobody is ever going to sit back there and say 28 minutes is acceptable," said Glascott.

"There was a collection of tragic circumstances that created an end result that was terrible," said Glascott.

Call takers at Erie County Central Police Services handle nearly a million calls a year.

They can get a better handle on location with the newer phones. But some older models and over the counter, pay as you go phones, don't always have the updated technology, making it difficult and time consuming to pinpoint a location.

People probably don't realize that. Do they? Vito says, "Most do not."

That means 911 call takers must take extra steps to find you.

"That takes time. And time sometimes is a very precious commodity," said Glascott. "When you use your cell phone to call 911 you have to give a correct address of where your location is."

Vito said, "In most cases the technology works exactly the way it should."

But it helps if people provide some information.

"They have to provide basic information," Vito said.

The biggest thing to know about this, don't assume because you're calling from a cell phone that your exact location is known.

When possible, tell them where you are and why you're calling.

Does Erie County's 911 center ever get calls from out of the area?

There was a case of a local woman who spends winters in the south. She was having a heart attack in Mississippi and called 911 using an Internet based phone system.

The call came to Erie County, but News 4 is told the proper authorities we're notified, and that everything worked out.