Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A fatal fire in Madison, Wisconsin in 2013 has prompted a wrongful death lawsuit against a county dispatch center that allegedly took nearly four minutes to dispatch the call.
The family of Chris Williams filed suit last week claiming that Dane County and its 911 center bear responsibility for his death on October 16, 2013. Williams, 51 at the time, died from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. The fire was believed to have started in Williams’ apartment on the second floor, and was brought under control within 25 minutes. The building contained 32 units.
The suit claims that dispatchers “failed to properly follow policies, procedures and protocols implemented by Dane County to ensure prompt dispatch of firefighters to fires and were negligent in other aspects of handling the call regarding the fire.”
The suit also claims that the director of the 911 center, John DeJung, “knew or should have known of the problems in dispatching emergency responders, including firefighters, to emergencies such as is described herein and knew those problems created an imminent threat to public safety.”
The death of Williams prompted an earlier suit between the parties, as the plaintiffs sought to obtain records related to the fire through the Wisconsin Open Record Act.
