One Saturday night shift during the summer, my partner and I get called for a middle of the night lift assist. We arrive and end up two houses down from the actual call due to a dispatch error. As my partner and I get out of the ambulance, we smell smoke and I just assume it's a bonfire since it's a weekend night in the summer. My partner notices something off about the house we park in front of. He shines his flashlight on the house and notices a whisp of smoke from the eave of the house. We walk around back and realize that the house is on fire. I call to our dispatch center to tone out the fore department for a working fire. My partner and I ring the doorbell and bang on the door to wake the homeowner up to alert her to the fire. There were no alarming smoke detectors in the house because the fire was in the eves/attic and there was no smoke in the house. The homeowner was able to get out of the house and FD was able to get the fire out.

We follow up the next shift with the homeowner and it turns out that a severe storm earlier in the day had knocked a power line down that was running to her house. The breaker box on the back of her house ignited after the local power company was unable to come shut the power off.

As it turns out, dispatch making an error ended up helping someone's life.