Did I waste the fire department’s time?

[u/Kevsterific]

I was out for a trail run and got to a clearing at the top of a big hill that I could look out and see off in the distance.

I saw a big flame about 1km away (as the crow flies)

I called the fire department to report and stressed that while it looked like a big flame I didn’t know exactly where (I was able to give a street name by looking at google maps). In hindsight I didn’t see any smoke accompanying it and I didn’t think to mention it.

The dispatcher said there’s something called a burn off (I think that’s the phrase he used) in the area, but I told him I didn’t know what that was or looked like.

He said they’d send someone over to check it out but I’m just worried either it wasn’t actually a fire a was seeing or it was the burn off the dispatcher mentioned and I just wasted their time on a false alarm

I took this picture after I hung up, I wish I had a way of showing them what I saw so they could better determine what I was calling about

[u/HazMatsMan]

Yep, you called in a methane or waste gas burn-off. I'm in an industrial area, and we go on these all the time. They're especially irritating when people call them in from the interstate at 3:30AM. Our dispatchers know exactly what the callers are calling in, but their protocols don't allow them any decision-making ability. They have to follow the script. Bottom line, you made an Innocent mistake, but sounds like you learned a lesson and hopefully won't make the same mistake again.