911 what is your EMERGENCY?

I recieved a call from a frantic woman who advised me she babysits for kids and a mother dropped off her 5 year old son at about 530 in the am - I recieved the call at about 8 in the morning. The child was cold to the touch and not breathing. I immediately went into disaster mode as I was sure I had a bad call - got the units rolling and asked if anyone knew cpr. She didn't, I advised her I would talk her through it while the units were responding to her as is our policy. CPR is Cardio Pulminary Resuscitation which we are all trained in. I advised the caller to get the child on the floor to start CPR. Then I heard a male voice in the background and asked who was that, thinking the crew certainly hasn't arrived yet. She told me that was her husband. I asked to put him on the line because I felt the female I was talking to was not working fast enough to try and save this little 5 year old boy. He got on the phone and I asked if he knew CPR. He asked for what? I said you have a 5 year old boy not breathing. Just then I heard the sirens and thought oh good they are arriving on scene. The husband advised me there was no child there. When the crews finally came inside, they gave the Luitenant the phone. I quickly learned that the "babysitter" was what we call Signal 20, which means not quite right in her mind, and the "child" was actually a leather couch that had been cold to the touch! People check out who you have watching your kids and hopefully they are qualified!

911 what is your EMERGENCY?

I have been a 911 operator in Florida for the past 15 years. During that time, I have heard all kinds of "EMERGENCIES" as you can imagine, some real, some not so much! The majority - not so much. We are the main public service answering point for the county in which I reside, which basically means we get all the calls for the county who dial 911 from their cell phone or from their residential phones who are not in the 4 incorportated cities in my county. We never know what kind of call we are going to get next, whether it be from a frantic mother who has lost her 2 year old, from a drunk who wants to know what time it is, my asnswer would be if not for the taped phone lines, time to get a watch! We get loads of "pocket calls" when that cell phone magically calls 911 from their pocket or their purse! When school is out we get calls from kids with nothing better to do than call 911 - where are the parents of these kids ?? We get plenty of calls from schools obviously from kids who are allowed to have their cell phones on in class.
While on a Thansgiving vacation with my family in Vermont recently, I was urged to start a blog on weird calls that I have received. This will serve as my blog for my many calls I have and will continue to have in my carreer as a 911 operator.