Officials: Dispatch system error delayed response time in deadly apartment fire

By WDJT Staff

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    WAUKESHA, Wisconsin (WDJT) — The Waukesha officials are investigating an error they say caused a delay in the response to a fatal apartment fire near Lambeth and Haymarket Road Tuesday, March 8. In a news conference Wednesday, Waukesha fire and police officials said they identified an issue in the computer-aided dispatch system.

They say the software did not alert the fire stations as designed, and once notified, the fire stations had to be alerted manually by a member of the City of Waukesha Communications Center.

The fire department arrived on scene 10 minutes and 47 seconds from the time the first call was received at the city of Waukesha dispatch center.

“We are comprehensively exploring every aspect of the response to this tragedy in detail — from the time the call was taken until all the responding units arrived on scene. We are doing everything in our power to determine the cause of any delays to ensure that this does not happen again,” Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said.

Officials say the glitch delayed their response by approximately five minutes.

Captain Dan Baumann says the system is working and reliable, and they are looking into the error that occurred on this specific call.

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