Babylon Fire Accidental Cell Phone Emergency 911 Activation 2026

While assigned to the Babylon Fire, Incident Safety Officers were contacted by a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) from the Utah Highway Patrol, assigned as a Security Specialist Level 2 (SEC2), who had received a call from his Dispatch Center reporting that an Emergency 911 message had been received from a smartphone that indicated there was an unconscious person in the fire’s closure area.

It took approximately 45 minutes—possibly longer—to determine that the phone belonged to a crew working on the fireline and that the activation was indeed accidental. This was verified by having fireline leadership go to the area and ask crew members whether anyone's phone number had an area code and last four digits that matched the number associated with the 911 distress call.

Two days later, the Incident Commander came into the Safety Shop and said: "We have another one." The 911 Dispatch Center had called to report that a crash had been detected from a phone in the fire area.