A local resident, whose house burned down, imparts important information: 911 isn’t always a guarantee.
By Elizabeth Arnold / Special to The Malibu Times
When Gail Lowe’s 13-year-old son, Patrick, ran downstairs to tell her that a candle fire had started in his room on a Sunday a week and a half ago at 11:45 p.m., she did what most people in her situation would do: she dialed 911. Receiving a busy signal, she ran upstairs to call from another phone, which had a separate line. After hearing the busy signal again, she grabbed her son and drove a half-mile to Los Angeles County Fire Station No. 67 on Piuma Road in the Monte Nido area. Firefighters responded immediately and fought the blaze until 4 a.m., but Lowe’s house, which was located on Buckhorn Drive near Saddle Peak Lodge, was destroyed in the end.
Now staying with Malibu residents Paul and Sara Grisanti, who lost their home in the 1993 fire firestorm, Lowe is left to wonder why she encountered busy signals when she tried to call 911.
Officials from Fire Station No. 67 said that not all of the area’s 911 calls go through their dispatch center, and that they are most likely to be dispatched through the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s Station.
Sergeant Jeff Price of the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s Station said they never had any complaints of their 911 lines being busy before this. He said the station has its own dispatch system, so that 911 calls to that station don’t have to compete with any other 911 calls in Los Angeles. When asked why Lowe may have received the busy signals on the night of the fire, Price said the incident might have been caused by a problem with her own particular phone lines. Lowe’s neighbor, who called 911 to report the fire after Lowe rushed to the fire station, had no problem getting through to the dispatch center.
“We don’t want people getting a busy signal when they call 911,” Price said. “We have phone lines numbering in the double digits so we don’t get swamped.”
Lowe, who is trying her best to remain in good spirits as she makes plans to rebuild her house, said that she would like to turn her negative experience into a learning opportunity for others in the community. She urges people to have the number of the local fire and police station on hand, in case they are unable to get through to 911. She also stressed the importance of updating home structure insurance during the remodeling process. Lowe had invested $180,000 in remodeling her home, and was planning on updating her insurance when renovations were completed in six weeks. As a result, her remodeling money went up in smoke with her house.
“If I had read an article like this before the fire, I definitely would have updated my structure insurance before the end of the remodeling process, and wouldn’t have lost all of that money,” Lowe said.
Despite what happened on the night of Oct. 15, Lowe, whose family lost everything in a house fire when she was 14, said she still has much to be thankful for. She is very appreciative of the overwhelming support she has received from her colleagues, friends, Our Lady of Malibu Church and from the community in general. Instead of standing by with hoses to protect their own homes on the night of the fire, neighbors brought hoses to Lowe’s house instead. Lowe’s friends have been giving her the photos she once shared with them, as she lost all of her own mementos in the fire. She was also very impressed by the firefighters, who were compassionate and cracked jokes to keep her spirits up.
Most of all, Lowe is thankful that her son is safe.
“My house was just a building, and my belongings, just stuff,” she said. “My son is fine and my memories are in my heart, which is more than enough.”