Did i do the right thing?

[Mayfriday0529]

I was on my way home and I was already in my town when all sudden I saw this thick black smoke coming out of this house. It was obviously on fire.

There were no cops and no fire truck on the scene yet and it looked like the neighbors had just realized what was going on.

I slowed down but kept going and didn?t dial 911, all the neighbors were coming out I figure someone will call.

I kept driving and no cops and no fire truck yet. It takes about 4-5 minutes for me to get from the house burning to my house depending on the lights and finally two blocks away from my house I finally saw the first cop chasing to the scene, I got home and finally I heard fire truck sirens in the background.

I live in front of a fire house and it took another 4 minutes for them to roll out, in all probably 10 minutes past since I past the scene.

I just got home from the gym an hour and half later and several firehouses are still not back in.

So do you think I should have called the police?

I just hope tomorrow on the paper I don?t see a bad story about it.

Cliff notes:
Saw house burning
Didn?t call 911
I figured neighbors would
Should I have called the police

 

[Gurck]

I probably wouldn't have called either.

 

[Banana]

In retrospect, you should've called, but many of us would have done what you did.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

I would have called.. it's easier to call and then not have to worry about it, imo.

 

[tami]

no, you did the wrong thing. it's a normal psychological phenomenon, though. read about it here.

 

[amcdonald]

You should've ripped off your shirt, busted into the house like a man, and saved all the babies/dogs/valuables/fish you could find.

 

[FoBoT]

somebody already called, it takes time for them to get moving

 

[ChooChooChooseMe]

Probablay not, but I would have done what you did.
Edit: Well probably not...

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
somebody already called, it takes time for them to get moving

Well hopefully everyone got out ok and they manage to save most of the house. I know the area very well also, the high school i graduated from is a block away and some people i know live close to the house.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Update: No story on the local paper, but when i passed by today in the morning the entire house was border up, it looked bad.

 

[Pepsei]

Originally posted by: tami
no, you did the wrong thing. it's a normal psychological phenomenon, though. read about it here.

yep, studied that phenomenon in college. it is quite interesting.

 

[Calin]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
somebody already called, it takes time for them to get moving

The firefighters get moving in something like a minute. However, the distances are pretty big, traffic in the city is sometime crowded, and the trucks are slow especially on twists/corners. They probably were announced some time before, but you should have called anyway. Even if only to give details about the fire

 

[bret]

if you saw the neighbors then they called 911, so no need to have hundreds of calls to clog up the lines.

dont feel bad... honestly i would have done what you did. but im sure i would have said something and laughed.

i am a a$$ hole.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: amcdonald
You should've ripped off your shirt, busted into the house like a man, and saved all the babies/dogs/valuables/fish you could find.

<groundskeeper willie> but who's going to save the wee turtles? </groundskeeper willie>

 

[Toasthead]

I always err on the side of caution...Id rather call and be told 'yes weve recieved many reports of this..units are responding, thank you' than not call at all.

On a side note... I saw a cement truck overturn on the freeway while I was driving on a frontage road, and tried to call 911 from my cell phone and I got a busy signal the first 12 tries! It was ridiculous how long it took me to get through, but such is life in CA.

 

[moshquerade]

someone else already called - don't sweat it.

 

[AdamSnow]

You should have called...

911 would rather get 5 phone calls about the same thing then no calls at all...

I guess I'm just touchy about it... my father was the fire chief for my city, and I grew up with that kind of thing...

 

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: AdamSnow

911 would rather get 5 phone calls about the same thing then no calls at all...

No, I don't think so. There are many instances of people who were in need of REAL help but received busy signals.

 

I hope someday when you arent home (after you have moved away from the fire department) that your house catches fire and someone else does the same thing for you. People that pass up other people who need help make me sick (although what you did isnt THAT horrible....).

 

[Eli]

I probably wouldn't have called either..


That sounds like horrible response time though, for being so close...

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: buck
I hope someday when you arent home (after you have moved away from the fire department) that your house catches fire and someone else does the same thing for you. People that pass up other people who need help make me sick (although what you did isnt THAT horrible....).

did you read what he posted?

"all the neighbors were coming out I figure someone will call."

there were people all over, so someone called. c'mon get real.