PHOTO: The fire in Lightning Ridge a resident tried to report but was dismissed by emergency call centre operators. Photo: RFS NSW
On the telephone line between callers and emergency operators, the location of the incident can get lost in translation.
When Rebel Black from Lightning Ridge called 000 to report a fire 20 kilometres north of Lightning Ridge on the night of 17 November, the operator told her they already had a fire on the Bill O’Brien Way and Benny Walford Crossing in town.
Ms Black called back around 15 minutes later to clarify that these could not be the same incidents as she was trying to report a fire on private property off the Castlereagh Highway…