The Culver Town Council members were made aware of a 911 call that is under investigation with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department concerning a small fire at Culver Academy with apparently no response by the Culver-Union Township Fire Department.
Culver Town Manager Ginny Bess Munroe explained that on Saturday, October 15 there was a fire in the Legion Memorial Building on the Culver Academy campus and a 911 call was attempted to request the fire department. The fire department was not reportedly dispatched to the scene. Culver-Union Township Fire Chief Terry Wakefield contacted the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department the next day about the situation and officials would check into it.
Wakefield told the council members that the 911 call was made from a cell phone by a caterer. He also stated he went to the scene the next day to determine a cause of the fire. He said there looked to be thousands of dollars in smoke damage. A follow-up will be done with campus security to avoid a similar situation.
According to information from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, Chief Wakefield contacted Marshall County Sheriff’s Department 911 Supervisor Matt Pitney on Monday, October 17 to discuss the issue. Pitney stated a review of the county’s Computer Aided Dispatch records found no call received by the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department. A request was made by the Sheriff’s Department to Fulton, Starke and Pulaski Counties to see if the 911 call had gone to those jurisdictions. No agency reportedly received a 911 call.
Pitney said he was able to get the phone number of the person who reportedly placed the 911 call and sent a trouble ticket to INDigital. An INDigital report found that the call was routed to the Fulton County Dispatch Center as the phone hit off the Fulton County tower.
Fulton County Dispatch Director Gail Karas found the 911 call and listened to the call with Pitney where there was no one on the line, according to the release. After staying on the line for a few minutes and attempting to get someone to give information, the dispatcher disconnected the call and attempted to call the number without a response. A text message was sent with no answer.
Since there was no information on the call, officials say there was not a dispatch sent to any agency.
