Lindsey Thompson Named December Employee of the Month

MOBILE, Ala. – The Mobile Fire-Rescue Department proudly announces Public Safety Dispatcher (PSD I) Lindsey Thompson as the December 2019 Employee of the Month.

On Friday, December 6th, Mobile Fire-Rescue Department’s (MFRD) Engine 3 was dispatched to the RSA Riverview Plaza Hotel for a 911 hang-up. Emergency 911 issued information to MFRD Communications regarding a woman who was sick but didn't know her whereabouts. MFRD’s Communications team attempted to triangulate her position using global positioning (GPS). Cellphone coordinates placed her at the hotel. 

Engine 3 performed an extensive search of RSA Plaza but had very little information with which to locate the patient. Alas, Engine 3 firefighters were still searching the hotel when Public Safety Dispatcher I Lindsey Thompson answered another call from the same cell phone. The caller was hysterical and incoherent, and it took several minutes of calming her before she would speak at all. Eventually, dispatchers were able to gather enough information to determine that the caller was a 64-year-old dialysis patient who was trapped in a vacant building and could not escape. She stated that a man had "taken” her there, leading emergency dispatchers to believe that the caller was a victim of an abduction.

Mobile Police Department (MPD) officers and MFRD crews were updated as new information was gathered from the caller. With still minimal details, Engine 3 broadened the search considerably to areas beyond the Riverview Plaza Hotel. In doing so, the crew grew closer in proximity to the caller. So much so that PSD Thompson could hear the firefighters through the phone. PSD Thompson asked the crew of Engine 3 to call out, identifying themselves as to confirm that they were, in fact, near the caller/patient and not an assailant.

After hearing firefighters identify themselves, PSD Thompson instructed the caller to yell out as loudly as she could to allow responders to locate her. After several attempts, the crew was able to locate the patient inside of a dark, abandoned building with fully boarded windows and doors. The crew was forced to search the premises extensively for a means to enter the building to gain access to the patient. The caller was discovered approximately a quarter-mile away from where the search initially began.

By the time responders were with the patient, PSD Thompson had been on the phone with the caller for more than half-an-hour, keeping her calm and focused, while continuing to gather vital information and doing everything possible from a remote location to help locate her. PSD Thompson did an incredible job of soothing the caller with patience, empathy, and compassion. Her diligence allowed for enough information to be collected, giving Engine 3's crew and MPD officers opportunity to find the patient and safely get her out.

Words and awards cannot adequately represent the appreciation of the City of Mobile nor the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department.