The people who answer 911 calls are supposed to remain calm and collected, no matter the nature of the incoming call.
One 911 operator in Madison County, Texas put that theory to the test last Friday after receiving a call about a fire – from her own daughter.
Layla Wray with Madison County Fire and Rescue was working overnight Friday when a call came in from her 14-year-old daughter Cassidy.
“Mommy! Mommy! It’s Cassidy. The house is on fire.”
Cassidy told her mother that the fire began on the back porch, and that her father, brother, and pet dogs were also home. Audio of the 911 calls shows how panicked Cassidy had become.
“Mommy. It’s going to burn us all,” Cassidy said.
“All right. All right. Calm down. Calm down,” her mother replies. “I’ve already got somebody en route. OK? It’s OK.”
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Throughout the call Wray remains remarkably composed, going about the call as she would any other emergency situation. In fact the only time she shows a hint of irritation is when (of course) she can hear her kids bickering in the background.
“Y’all do not need to be fighting over this. There’s other (expletive) happening.”
Wray’s house was a total loss, but no one was harmed in the blaze, the cause of which is still under investigation.
Wray is refusing any interview requests in the wake of the fire.
But her boss thinks she did a great job in a tough situation.
“She did an outstanding job. She did what she was trained to do,” Madison County Sheriff Travis Neeley told ABC-13 News. “How many people can sit there and do this job and take a call from their own child?”
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