... so sings Tom Petty. I think he was referring to waiting for someone to return his phone call.
I called the Town Clerks Office this morning.
(Read the blog before this one if you have no idea why I would ever want to do such a thing.)
"I'm not sure who I should be calling..." (I can almost see this woman roll her eyes when I tell her this. I used to hate getting these calls when I worked for the state.)
"I'm wondering if I can find out the cause of a domestic fire that happened in July. The family has been living in a mobile home in their back yard, which is adjacent to my yard, since then. I'm also wondering if I can find out the status of the house." I didn't mention the dogs.
She sympathizes with me, or else she was faking the sympathy, in which she did a really good job. She tells me that the first place to start would be the Fire Department, since they would have records on what started the fire. They would then be able to tell who to talk to in order to find out the progress of the house. She gives me the number.
I call the Fire Department. Voice recording giving me SO many options. I never knew Fire Departments had so many departments. Code Compliance, press 1; Training and Safety, press 2; Fire Prevention, press 3, Smoke Detector Training....... I press 6 for Fire Investigations. I get a voicemail. "...If you want to investigate a fire, leave a message...."
I leave a message mentioning the fire, the date it happened, the location, and whether it's public record to know the cause (even though I'm pretty sure it is.) I also request what other information I could find out about the status of the house repairs. That was 5 hours ago.
My mind wanders when I leave messages for people I don't know. I wonder if the Fire Investigator is friends with the family and has spent the past 5 hours on the phone with them laughing at me and devising a "story" to tell me to shut me up. Yeah, it's a scene out of Desperate Housewives, but that's the way my mind works.
I'm heading home now. I'll let you know if I see dog poo smeared across my front door.
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4 comments:
At least you spoke up. Keep trying.
No kidding. You have to pursue this, I would not be a happy camper either. Hope it works out, and quickly!
Yippee for taking action. Remember, if they don't call you back within a day, it is perfectly ok to call them again.
in my neighborhhod, the fire office is only open for a few hours each day . . . so it's quite possible that it just toakes a long time for these kind of calls to be returned.
Good for you for standing up for yourself!
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