DISPATCHER: This Is For A Dog. Not A Person Who Went In After A Dog.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2022 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Sunday morning was called to a home in the 9700 block of Richmond Circle for a drowning. As information was relayed to dispatchers — and eventually paramedics and rescue units rushing to the scene to presumably save a human — a paramedic could be heard incredulously asking: “is this for a dog?”
After a few moments of pause, while a dispatcher doubled checked with a Palm Beach County emergency call-taker, the response was, “yes, this is for a K9.” That led another rescuer to ask, “are you sure this is for a dog and not a person who went in after the dog?”
Again, the emergency dispatcher paused, presumably rechecked with the call-taker, and responded again, “yes, this is for a dog.” Not a person who went in to save a dog.
While not suggesting that dogs are unimportant and shouldn’t be rescued, BocaNewsNow.com is unclear Sunday morning as to Palm Beach County’s official policy in sending hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rescue equipment — let alone significant manpower — to rescue a dog from a pool. We do know that upon hearing the victim was a dog and not a human, multiple units rushing to the scene broke off and made themselves available for other calls.
We have asked Palm Beach County Fire Rescue for the agency’s official policy. We’ll update once we hear back. We will also update if we learn the condition of the dog. We are unaware of any other calls involving humans that were delayed as a result of the animal.
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