Strange But True News – 911 Operator Falls Asleep at Controls

As a panicked woman called 911 for help because her husband was turning blue, the dispatcher snored.

The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue dispatcher on the other end of the line was sound asleep. The woman had called for help as her husband was having trouble breathing. After the initial 911 operator transferred the call to the county fire and rescue dispatcher, all she heard on the other end of the line was snoring. When another dispatcher got on the line with the woman to try to help but the sleeping dispatcher's snoring confused everything because they thought the sounds were coming from the woman's husband.

Finally about six minutes into the call, the sleeping dispatcher woke up! The snoring dispatcher was immediately removed from the floor by his supervisor and placed on administrative leave pending an inquiry. The sleeping firefighter was reportedly 17 hours into a 24-hour overtime shift at the time of the incident.

Fortunately, the woman's husband was transported to the hospital. Montgomery County folks say he did not suffer any adverse affects from the sleeping dispatcher fiasco.