911

My big excitement for the day (keep in mind this is relative to cleaning the turtle tank) was calling 911 to report a (small) fire.

I was biking on the bike path by Preston and I noticed some smoke coming from the trees ahead. I thought it might be some kids with a fire, and that might be how it started, but there was no one there and the fire was about 10 feet across with open flames.

I went into the trees to make sure there wasn't anybody passed out or anything. Then I used my iPhone to call 911.

I wasn't sure about calling 911 since it wasn't exactly an emergency but it was the easiest. My call was handled politely and efficiently and I was handed over to the fire department. The only difficulty was explaining where it was. I would have thought they could get some kind of location from my cell phone but it didn't seem like it since they had to ask whether I meant the south or north end of Preston.

A few minutes later I could hear a siren. I wasn't sure if they'd come straight to the right spot but they drove directly to me, going the wrong way on the one-way road.

A police car showed up right away as well. I didn't recognize him - don't know as many of the patrol people now that Shelley is a big wig.

With all the rain we've had the last few days I don't think there was much danger of the fire spreading. If things had been as dry as they sometimes get it would have been more exciting. However, it was in a narrow strip of trees between the road and a plowed field with nowhere really to go.

I actually got to use the phone part of my iPhone for a change :-) But the application of technology is still lagging - theoretically I should have been able to give them an exact GPS location. And even send them live video of the fire and its surroundings so they could judge the situation. Of course, even I don't take advantage of the technology - I didn't even think to take a picture to go with this blog post.

[posted via BlogPress on my iPhone from Broadway Roastery]