In January in Austin, Texas, a 45-minute delay occurred between when a nighttime 911 call was made to report a building on fire and the time firefighters arrived. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the delay could have been due to uncertainty about the seriousness of the "fire," in that the building in question, with smoke spewing from it, was Bert's Bar B-Q (which of course has smoke spewing from it frequently). This time, though, the building was destroyed. To make matters worse, the 45-minute delay in responding was even harder to take because the closest fire station is, er, in the same block![Austin American-Statesman, 1-24-07] From News of the Weird.
