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“What more does it do to be in emergency contact if y’all can’t pick up the phone?” —Calvin McCalpin on trying to report a fire to 911, see page 7
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Massive Fires Show Weakness of 911 in Jackson by Kayode Crown
May 5 - June 1, 2021 • jfp.ms
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s the smoke billowed from the raging fire at an apartment complex on O’Ferrell Avenue in Jackson on Friday, April 16, 2021, some of the people who lived there explained that the fire would not have been so ravaging had the Jackson Fire Department responded faster after they called 911. “I don’t know how (the fire) started, all I know is smoke coming in, and everybody had to get out; everybody (was) helping everybody to get out of the apartment (complex). That was it. The fire department took too long to come,” said Richard Champion, one of the apartment complex’s residents. He spoke to the Jackson Free Press at about 1 p.m., as the fire crew continued the battle to contain and quench the fire that had started about three hours before. Champion said he had called 911, but “no one answered the phone.” But when his neighbor Elbert Williams called the number, he was told that help was on the way. But after waiting for about 30 minutes, Williams got in his car and drove to the nearest fire station located at the Jackson Zoo, within a mile from the apartment complex. When he got there, what struck Williams was that the fire crew members were not in official clothing, getting ready to come to their rescue and that if he did not come, they would not have been aware of the fire outbreak nearby, regardless of the 911 call. “We (called) them about 30, 40 minutes before the fire got that bad. They could have come to put it out,” he said. Another apartment-complex resident, Truy Bennet, said that the timeline of the fire department’s response was very slow “We saw a little smoke, and we think it’s something major, so we called (911) to say we saw a little smoke. (The fire department) didn’t come till about two hours later when the flame got all over the building,” Bennet said. “We called 911, and the line kept being busy, (even though) the fire department is right down the street.” Patricia Nelson had left the apartment complex four months earlier due
Firefighters were still on the job at an apartment complex on O’Ferrell Avenue, Jackson, as seen in this picture taken at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, April 16, 2021. Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Armon said the fire started at 10 a.m.
to what she described as the deteriorating condition of her apartment there, but her son continues to stay there. She said the fire started from her friend Debbie Barnes’ apartment.
“The fault came from the wiring in the wall in her apartment,” she said sitting beside Barnes on a stone. They and others from around the area looked on as the fire continued to consume people’s properties
across the road, beyond the police’s do-notcross yellow tape. The apartment complex owner gave his name as Terry but declined to speak with the Jackson Free Press, saying he is busy trying to provide temporary
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