Dispatchers recall Muncie ‘miracle’ fire 911 call

MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) —  When Pam and Tom Price made a third desperate phone call to 911 from inside their burning home, they reached Nathan Ledbetter at Delaware County Dispatch.

Pam stayed on the phone with 911 dispatchers so firefighters knew she and her husband were still alive.

When firefighters arrived, floors of the house were already collapsing.

The Hamilton Township fire chief deemed it too dangerous for crews to enter. He told 24-Hour News 8 it was only because the dispatcher kept the woman on the phone, so he could hear her breathing, that made him continue the rescue.

“I knew if I kept her on the line that the chances of the firefighters finding her was going to be better,” he said.

It’s a decision he said came partly from training, but mostly instinct.

“There’s nothing written on a piece of paper that says when somebody’s trapped in a house, this is what you have to do,” he said.

Even as firefighters were forced to give up the dangerous rescue, Ledbetter kept talking to Pam, making sure she kept breathing.

After the couple had been trapped for more than 30 minutes, dispatcher Lisa Coutinho told fire crews the Price’s had somehow survived.

“When I realized they were still alive, then I thought maybe there’s some hope that they’ll still get them out,” she said.

Firefighters attempted another rescue and this one was a success, with that vital 911 call still active.

“Once they were inside I could hear them count ‘one, two, three’ as they lifted her and her husband out,” Ledbetter said.

“It’s just something you don’t see,” he said, “It’s unheard of, somebody surviving greater than 30 minutes inside a fully engulfed structure fire.”

The dispatchers said they’re proud to have been a part of the rescue, but remain humble.

“To me it was more of the firefighters you know and definitely, God had a hand in it because I believe that if it wasn’t for God, they wouldn’t have been able to get them out,” Coutinho said. “He definitely had his arms around them that night.”

“Somebody said I got lucky to have that call,” Ledbetter said, “No, I didn’t get lucky, I just happened to be on the other end of it doing what I’m trained to do.”

Pam and Tom Price are out of the hospital. They suffering some smoke inhalation but no burns.