Child calls 9-1-1, directs emergency crews to save mom

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mike Meares
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Standing out in front of her home, she was "calm, cool and collected," flagging down the emergency crews after dialing 9-1-1 while her mother lay unconscious in the bathroom. 

Victoria Kroll is only 6 years old.

Victoria Kroll, daughter of Tech. Sgt. Shawn Kroll, 1st Special Operations Maintenance Squadron, and Angie, is the youngest and newest member of the Eglin Fire Department team when the 96th Civil Engineer Group.  She was honored for her bravery at a Station 1 ceremony March 16 where she became an honorary firefighter.

"I couldn't be more proud of her," said Mrs. Kroll. "Usually she would call daddy. This time she called someone who could get there faster."

In the moments after Mrs. Kroll fell in the bathroom, she cried out to her daughter to call daddy first, but then said to call 9-1-1. She blacked-out moments later. Victoria grabbed the cell phone and made the call.

"This reflects very highly upon her parents as they did a beautiful job in teaching her not only where she lives, but her telephone number and the number to the cell phone she was calling from," said Tech. Sgt. Mardy Damm, a fire protection crew chief who was on dispatch duty the afternoon of the call. "I wish all parents would do this."

After calling 9-1-1 for the first time in her life, she talked to dispatchers from Okaloosa County and from Eglin. Once she was patched over to Eglin, the conversation continued with Okaloosa monitoring:

Eglin dispatcher: "Your mom, you said she is asleep on the bathroom floor you said."
Victoria: "Yeah, she can't move."
Eglin dispatcher: "She can't move? OK. Do you know your address?"
Victoria: "I live on Sweet Bay Circle."
Eglin dispatcher: "219 Sweet Bay Circle?"
Victoria: "M-huh."
Eglin dispatcher: "Is that right?"
Victoria: "Yeah, I think."
Eglin dispatcher: "You think?"
Victoria: "Uh huh."
Eglin dispatcher: "OK. Do you..."
Victoria: "223, I think. That's where our home is."
Okaloosa dispatcher: "The Annie Alley location is 219 Sweet Bay."
Eglin dispatcher: "It is?"
Victoria: "It's 223."
Eglin dispatcher: "223?"
Victoria: "Yeah. That's our house number."
Eglin dispatcher: "OK."
Okaloosa dispatcher: "You're doing an excellent job kiddo,"
Eglin dispatcher: "Yeah."

The call continues with questions about exactly what transpired, until sirens from the emergency vehicles were heard in the background.

Eglin dispatcher: "There's going to be a fire truck, a police car and an ambulance coming your way, OK? If you see any of them, you wave at them."
Victoria: "OK. I'm looking now. (Pause) Ah it's getting closer."
Eglin dispatcher: "It's getting closer?
Victoria: "Yeah."
Eglin dispatcher: "The sirens getting louder?"
Victoria: "Yeah."
Eglin dispatcher: "OK."
Victoria: "I hear them all around me. Uh oh."
Eglin dispatcher: "You see them?"
Victoria: "No I hear them all around me..."
Eglin dispatcher: "All right, just wave at them when they get close to you, OK?"
Victoria: "I have trees and they need to look."

Victoria was standing out in front of her yard near the sidewalk and waving at the emergency responders to the correct house.

They all showed up at about the same time to a little blonde haired girl with glasses waving at them -- a type of wave that says more than hello to a passing fire truck.

"My initial reaction was something was very wrong," said Bruce Ehrenberger, a captain and lead firefighter on the response fire truck. "The call came in, unconscious person, called in by a 6-year-old, which is unusual. Our first reaction was to get everyone going, including law enforcement just in case there was a scene of violence."

The 9-1-1 Automatic Number Identification and Automatic Location Identification system, or ANI-ALI, displayed an address that Victoria animatedly told the dispatchers was incorrect and gave them the correct house number.

"She knew exactly where she was at and knew exactly where she was calling from," Sergeant Damm said.

"She stood out at the sidewalk and directed them in, just like any other adult should do. She did it flawlessly," Sergeant Damm said.

The Eglin firefighters entered the house to find exactly what Victoria told the dispatchers -- her mom, unconscious and lying on the bathroom floor. After taking necessary precautions, they boarded and collared her and took her to the emergency room at Eglin.

"The poise and heroism of this little girl was just amazing," Mr. Ehrenberger said. "I was really taken aback by it. I actually shook her hand after everything was done and her mom was in the ambulance. It struck a chord with me how important and how well trained (she is). She did an outstanding job."

Her parents say she was excited by the experience, but also think it has opened her eyes to problems with Mrs. Kroll's health. The doctors are working out the details with the Kroll family to schedule an MRI to figure out why Mrs. Kroll passes out from time to time.

She wasn't scared that day but, I think she is now," Mrs Kroll said. "She's always afraid I'm going to fall and crack my head or something. She hears a noise and immediately calls out and asks me if I'm OK."

Sergeant Kroll said they have worked with Victoria since she could talk to learn the information she needed that day to call 9-1-1.

"The school reinforces what we teach her with things like fire prevention week and police week," Sergeant Kroll said. "Things like this could become a reality in a fraction of a second for anyone."

Victoria told the firefighters she wasn't scared at all.

"I was thinking 'call 9-1-1.' I was brave," she said.

She also told them she knows how important it is to know what to do in an emergency.
"You have to remember everything, like your number 223," she said.

"I'm very thankful. I love her so much," said Mrs. Kroll, with a resounding "thank you" chimed in from Victoria who was standing next to mommy's wheelchair.

When the day at the fire department was over, she went for a ride on the flightline in the fire truck of her choice and got to spray down a fighter jet. Now that she has finally called 9-1-1, something she has wanted to do since she learned how, Victoria knows she's ready, willing and able if she needs to do it ever again.