911 is your friend (at least when used appropriately)

So I'm taking a much deserved break from work. I grab a tall frosty glass of lemonade and sit down to watch a little TV.

Now, I don't watch too much TV, especially when I'm on vacation. I try to stay informed, though, so I flip it to the news.

I was up at the woods in the middle of nowhere, and Fairview is the closest metro area. So, it's Fairview news or bust.

In the middle of some story about the economy, they interrupt with breaking news. SkyView 3 was flying over Metro Center when they saw some black smoke near Washington Park. They flew over to the fire and found a gas station involved in a rapidly developing fire.

There was a small crowd of bystanders watching the fire burn, but FFD was nowhere in sight. After 30 seconds or so of random newscaster babbling, fire still isn't on scene.

I call into the Comm Center to give an update on the fire's size and rate of spread.

Guess what?

Nobody had even reported the fire! All those knuckleheads standing around watching it burn, plus the news anchors talking about the FFD's slow response time, and nobody thought to actually notify the fire department. Unbelievable.

So from more than 100 miles away, I ended up being the first person to call it in. It's amazing that folks'll call 911 at 3 in the morning for the flu that they've had for a week but won't call in a significant structure fire in the middle of broad daylight.

Sheesh.