CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It’s supposed to be there in an emergency.
911.
But what if you called for help and were put on hold? And not just for a few seconds.
An NBC Charlotte exclusive investigation found out this happens way more than you’d think, and for a lot longer than you might ever guess.
“It started in here and came through here,” Jonas Marco said.
He could do little more than watch his Plaza Midwood home burn last December as he and his neighbors stood across the street on the phone with Charlotte Mecklenburg 911.
On the recording of the actual 911 call, you can hear Marco say, “This can’t be happening.”
Then a recorded operator saying, “Please do not hang up, this is the 911 emergency line.”
It was tough for Marco to take. He called for help at the first sign of smoke and was put on hold.
“Frustrated, confused, I didn’t even know you could be on hold. I didn’t know you could actually be put on hold. I didn’t think that existed," Marco said.
He finally got an actual dispatcher after 42 seconds.
We went straight to Bill Boger, the commander over 911 for answers.
We asked: “I think most people would be surprised to hear that youre ever put on hold when you call 911?”
“Yes, I would say that would be a big surprise to folks,” he told us.
We asked: “Is that unusual for a call to wait that long?”
“Yes it is unusual. Over a million calls were answering 90 percent of them within ten seconds," Boger said.
We asked: “I think that sounds good until you flip it and realize there are 100,000 people not getting help.”
In fact, we did some digging and found out more than 50,000 people in the last year were put on hold for more than 20 seconds.
More than 20,000 waited more than 40 seconds before getting an actual person.
We presented those numbers to Boger: “According to the fire department, every minute that burns doubles the fire.”
Boger: “ Yes.”
NBC Charlotte: “So he’s on hold 42 seconds Fire is literally doubling in size?”
“Yes ma'am. “
We asked Marco: “What was going on with the house at the time while you were on hold?”
“Burning, burning, burning down,” said Marco.
NBC Charlotte: What if this was a call where somebody’s life was on the line and that person was on hold 42 seconds?
"That’s not something we want to do but its something we have to work through every day were going to process those calls as efficiently as we can with the staff we have," replied Boger.
Boger says they’ve been asking the city for more dispatchers for 15 years.
The Queen City’s population has exploded and they’re taking on more surrounding cities.
“Every year we have seen an increase,” Boger points out.
A 25-percent increase in the number of calls to 911 every year. And only enough money for eight more dispatchers in all that time
“Do you feel like they let you down?" We asked.
"I think they could have done better," said Marco.
We checked with the city.
They are considering the communications budget request – again.
They’ll talk about it at a March 16 budget workshop.
But a city spokeswoman sent us this statement:
“Although the economy is improving, limited resources are available to meet our community needs and impact the City’s ability to fully fund and address service demands that are driven by population growth and inflation. Since FY2009, the General Fund has experienced flat operating budgets and targeted “base” budget adjustments. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department continues to experience increased demand due to seven years of little additional operating funding in a City that has grown by an estimated 130,000 people. To adequately sustain the public safety services, including police patrol and fire and rescue responses, and with regard to what is best for our City, numerous options and alternatives were explored and researched ensuring funding decisions were made each fiscal year without putting the City at risk, either financially or from a service delivery perspective.”