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/[deleted]]

I heard that some police departments now have apps you can use to send text messages. You could send a picture to a non-emergency line, I think...

[u/Typical-Efficiency31 → u/[deleted]]

Reread what you typed and see how stupid that is. You can’t send a picture to a landline.

[u/R_Todd98 → u/Typical-Efficiency31]

It's 2025 the fax machine has been around a long time, you know that landline that prints things like pictures.

[u/Typical-Efficiency31 → u/R_Todd98]

You can’t text a picture to a fax machine either hahahahaha. Thank you for that.

[u/No-Obligation-2041 → u/Typical-Efficiency31]

Text no, but there is a plethora of free apps that you could, in fact, send a picture from your phone to a fax machine if you want.

[u/Typical-Efficiency31 → u/No-Obligation-2041]

I’d just rather not call 911 when there isn’t an emergency.

[u/No-Obligation-2041 → u/Typical-Efficiency31]

Actually, services like prepared911.com allow dispatch to note location and live stream video from your device.

Depends if your area uses such services, but thinking you can't send images or video to a 911 call center is pretty 1990 way of thinking.