Third-Floor Trapped Caller with Mobility Impairment
At 03:14, a caller reports smoke in a third-floor apartment at 428 Maple Court, apartment 3B. She says the smoke is coming under her door and the hallway is hazy. She uses a walker and cannot use the stairs; the building has one stairwell and no elevator. She is the only one awake in her unit. She has not seen flames. She asks if she should open the door to check the hallway. She also says her neighbor in 3C is elderly and may be asleep. The caller is calm but coughing. There is no balcony; her window opens onto a rear alley, three stories up. She wants to know if she should jump. No units have been dispatched yet. She reports no smoke inside her unit yet, only under the door.
1. What key questions do you need answered, and what dispatch decision should you make? Explain what you would not wait for.
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Confirm the address and unit (428 Maple Court, 3B), callback number, exact conditions at the door, whether the door is hot, whether smoke is entering the unit, and whether anyone else is inside. Establish that the caller is mobility-impaired and on the third floor with one stairwell. That combination-possible fire below or adjacent, smoke in the public corridor, and a trapped occupant-justifies a full structural fire response with rescue and EMS. Do not delay dispatch to complete every key question; the entrapment and smoke are enough to send units, and you can update responding units as you learn more. Tell them: third-floor occupant, uses a walker, smoke in hallway, caller being advised to seal the door. Do not tell the caller to open the door to investigate. Opening a door can pull smoke and fire into a tenable space and can cut off her only protected area.
2. Give the pre-arrival instructions you would provide, including how you would answer her question about jumping.
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Keep the caller on the line and speak calmly. Tell her not to open the door if it is warm or if smoke is thick in the hallway; instead, seal the bottom and edges with wet towels, tape, or bedding, cover vents if possible, and stay low where the air is better. Move to the window, but open it only if smoke is not being drawn into the room; if she opens it, she should stay low and signal with a flashlight or phone. For the jump question, advise against jumping from a third floor. A fall from that height can be fatal or disabling, and rescue is responding. Explain that sealing the door buys time and that firefighters will reach her. If smoke enters the unit, she should stay at the window near the floor rather than hide in an interior room. Do not send her to warn the neighbor; that could turn one trapped occupant into two. Reassure her that units are coming and keep her talking.
3. The caller says her neighbor in 3C is elderly and may be asleep. What do you do with that information?
Read the worked answer
Record it and relay it to responding units as a possible additional occupant in 3C, but do not instruct the caller to leave her protected unit to knock on the neighbor's door. Her unit is currently a survivable space; sending her into a smoky hallway without protective equipment creates a second victim and may delay her own rescue. Ask whether she has seen or heard the neighbor, but avoid questions that push her to investigate. Update the incident with: 'possible elderly occupant in 3C, caller advised to remain in 3B and seal door.' If the neighbor later calls, treat that as a separate caller with a separate location and entrapment status, and relay it to the same incident.