Pa. County 911 Faces Lawsuit Over Fatal Fire Dispatch
Source The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
July 31--Survivors of a woman killed earlier this year in a fire in Mocanaqua plan to file a lawsuit against Luzerne County 911, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Michelle Dzoch, 52, died in the May 15 fire at 76 Main St. in the Mocanaqua section of Conyngham Township.
The Anzalone Law Office, which represents Dzoch's daughter Katrina Hartman, filed notice that they will sue Luzerne County 911. No formal complaint was filed as of the close of business Wednesday.
When the fire was reported at 10:47 a.m. May 15, dispatchers first sent Sugarloaf Fire and Rescue, Hazle Township Fire and Rescue and Valley Regional Fire and Rescue to the incorrect address in Conyngham Borough, according to dispatch records obtained by The Citizens' Voice. The closest of those departments is more than 15 miles from Mocanaqua.
The Mocanaqua Fire Company was dispatched at 10:52 a.m., and records show it was an additional six minutes before crews were en route to the fire, which was one-tenth of a mile away from the department.
The fire began with Dzoch's two grandchildren playing with a lighter in a bedroom. Firefighters found Dzoch's body in a second-floor bathroom after the fire was snuffed out. The coroner's office ruled her death accidental. Luzerne County Coroner Bill Lisman has said determining Dzoch's exact time of death is "an impossibility" and that there is no way to know if the delay in dispatching the closer fire department played a role in her death.
Two 911 employees were suspended without pay for the incorrect dispatch. One of them, Debra Pac, was fired in June.
Luzerne County Chief Solicitor David Pedri on Wednesday declined to comment on the threatened litigation, referring further comment to a press release he issued last week that attributed the improper dispatch to human error.
570-821-2055, @cvbobkal
Copyright 2014 - The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
