British Columbia’s emergency line responder has released a list of the most unusual 911 calls this year, topped by a caller upset that their luggage exceeded flight carry-on limits, and another complaining that a store wouldn’t accept the return of an air-fryer.
E-Comm handles 99 per cent of 911 calls in B.C., accounting for about two million calls a year.
It says while most callers use 911 responsibly, some call for non-emergency reasons that do not require police, firefighters or paramedics and unnecessarily tie up resources.
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E-Comm says its list of unusual calls also includes someone calling because their dishwasher broke, a person who wanted help removing a hornet from their apartment and someone unhappy with a haircut.
Others called 911 about a non-electric car parked in an electric-vehicle charging station, being locked out of their Airbnb, and to complain about traffic.
Call taker Bailey Mitchell says in a release that while the reasons for the 911 calls may appear absurd, responders must treat every call as an emergency until it can be” confidently determined” to be not the case.
“Every second we spend fielding questions about traffic, hornets or bad haircuts is time that could otherwise be helping someone in a life-threatening emergency situation,” Mitchell says.