One week ago tonight, we were showing
you these heartbreaking images f
dogs being rescued and reunitedh
their scared owners while other people
learned their pets died in a fl.
We're learning more right now
about the effort to save them,
which many people feel was
unnecessarily delayed.
Good evening.
I'm Leslie Foster and district
officials are releasing some new
details about that timeline betn
when the 1st 911 calls came in d
when rescuers arrived at district dogs.
To save the dogs and the busines
workers from the flooding.
Rafael Sanchez Cruz joins us now live
from the Wilson Building where e
just spoke with emergency leade.
Rafa, have they filled in this e
frame from us? What do we learn?
We have a time frame. And now, Leslie,
we got that timeline that we were expecting,
but here the transcript of
those 911 calls that were made.
I remember last Thursday we were told
that they were waiting for those radio
calls to piece together what happened.
We didn't get those radio calls tonight.
And if we were expecting any kif
admission of mistake as to the response,
we also did not get that tonigh.
So we just came out about 20 minutes ago.
I don't want to walk you
through what happened.
Like I said,
there was no admission of any mistakes
that were made by the director f
the Office of Unified Communications,
Heather Mcgaffin.
She said dispatchers misspoke and that
they did not convey the urgency of what
was happening inside of district dogs.
Now during the initial call
that came in at 506,
the manager of the business cald
in from Montgomery County and she was
watching everything that was happening
inside the business through a camera.
And she said and I quote,
it's flooding horribly,
the walls gave out,
End Quote.
It wasn't until 5/20/14 minutes
later that first responders knew
there were people trapped inside
of district dogs with pets.
Now at 522,
the emergency was dispatched to
fire an EMS and finally 23 minus
later after that initial call,
rescuers were able to go inside.
In a closed door meeting,
Director Mcgaffin and DC Fire ad
EMS Chief John Donnelly admitted
that the dispatcher did not
elevate the gravity of that cal.
But when asked if Director Mcgan
would accept any mistakes,
this is what she responded.
What I am saying is we could
have done things differently.
This was an unprecedented event.
And so now as we look at what
we could have done differently,
we are making changes.
There is no policy or protocol
at that time for those people
to do the things that we're
talking about doing now because
it took all of us sitting down
reading the CAB report in its entirety,
of course their policy that.
Thank you.
And you heard it there.
She was saying that there was
no code given that would allow to show
the gravity of what was going o.
Basically what they're saying
is a call went in as a flood,
but was not able to really detail that
there were people trapped insid.
So what's going to happen next?
They're saying they're going to
classify these kinds of cases
as when a building collapses,
therefore first responders
can get there on time.
Now the Fire Chief was clear
that he said he wished his first
responders had more time to res.
But I said that she said that the the
people that were making those c,
the dispatchers, did misspeak.
And when we asked her if that person was
going to face any kind of consequence,
she said that she could not comment on it.
And that that person that misspe
and did not elevate.
The gravity of this call is
still taking 911 calls today.
When asked why she wasn't being
transparent about the process ow
this person would be accountabl,
she refused to answer and said
she had mechanisms in place to
hold the person accountable.
What those are.
She didn't want to go on the re.
I'm live at the Wilson Building.
I'm gonna fire Santa, screws.
Leslie,
back to you.
I have to say, Rafa,
we have a timeline here,
but there are still so many questions,
and the city did not really answer these
questions in a way that I'd imae
these folks who lost their loved ones
could appreciate or or really understand.
They've got some work to do.
All right, Rafa. Thank you.