Questions Surround EMS Response to Denver Airport Crash

DENVER --

Last month’s crash of Continental flight 1404 at Denver International Airport sent more than 36 people to area hospitals.

Call7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski has obtained records from the City of Denver raising questions about how 25 ambulances responded to the crash.

Based on the available data, an analysis by CALL7 investigators shows the average response time for ambulances that night was nearly 16 minutes. In three cases ambulances needed more than 24-minutes to arrive at Denver’s Airport.

The city’s records show an unexplained gap in the response by area ambulances.

Continental flight 1404 crashed off the airport runway at 6:18 p.m. that night.

According to the city’s records and emergency radio calls, the first ambulance was not assigned to respond to the airport with full lights and sirens for 14-minutes.

That ambulance needed 13-minutes and 42-seconds to drive to the crash scene.

That means, according to records provided to 7News by the City of Denver, the first ambulance did not arrive at the airport to assist with the plane crash for nearly 28-minutes.

Sources familiar with the investigation have told 7News the airport called for ambulances within a minute of confirming the crash.

The records show a 14-minute gap between the time of the crash and the first ambulance told to respond "Code 10" to the crash at airport.

"Code 10" means emergency response with full lights and sirens and top speed.

Radio traffic indicates that ten minutes after the crash two ambulances were assigned to the airport "Code 9" which is a non-emergency response. It was not until 6:32 p.m. that the first ambulance was upgraded to "Code 10."

Denver Health, the agency responsible for coordinating ambulance responses, has questioned the credibility of the data received by 7News despite the fact the data was provided by the city.

Denver Firefighters and airport paramedics were on scene within a few minutes of the crash. The issues raised by the records focus on the response times of area ambulances on the night of the crash.