Dismissal of fire reports caused delayed response

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two dispatchers with the California Highway Patrol initially dismissed 911 calls that came in reporting a fire on the south rim of Lake Tahoe, causing a seven-to-nine minute delay in their response, recordings of the 911 calls that were released Friday show.

On the tape from five calls answered by the CHP Truckee field office, dispatchers tell callers the smoke they are seeing is from a controlled burn in the area. The smoke actually came from a fire that ultimately destroyed 254 homes and burned 3,100 acres of mountain wilderness.

"I'm on the golf course, it's -- uh -- Lake Tahoe Country Club, and we can see smoke coming off the mountain to the west of us," a man reported, according to a transcript of the first call received by the CHP's Truckee communications center at 2:02 p.m. on June 24.

"Yeah. Yeah, they're doing a -- a control burn there," the dispatcher responded.

"Thank you," the unidentified male caller responded. "Sorry to bother you."

Capt. Gary Ross, commander of the CHP field office in Truckee, said their dismissals caused a delayed response to the fire.

The dispatchers also did not follow CHP policy, in which they are instructed to keep callers on the line and transfer them to a local fire department in such situations. Instead, they let the callers hang up.

Both dispatchers have been reassigned while the CHP investigates, Ross said.