Emergency calls from US Magnesium workers show disorganized emergency response [Video]

The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune, with support from the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

The urgent call came into the Tooele County 911 dispatcher just after 9:30 one night last November. A young woman, possibly 30 years old, was having seizures. She was an employee at US Magnesium, a sprawling chemical facility near the shores of the Great Salt Lake, an hour from the nearest hospital, across 50 miles of mostly unpaved roads.

“She’s got blood coming out her nose, I’m the only EMT on staff, I gotta go!”

The EMT then handed the phone to another US Magnesium employee and raced back to the injured woman.

As crucial seconds ticked down, the dispatcher began asking the man questions about the situation to prep emergency responders.

“Do you know the phone number?”

In between panicked breaths, he admitted he didn’t know …