(WSBT) 911 is the number we're taught to call in an emergency. But if you dial it from a cell phone and you don't know where you are, dispatchers might not be able to help you.

Earlier this summer, a call came into the St. Joseph County Fire Dispatch center from Noble County, more than 50 miles away. A home eventually burned to the ground because of a fluke in cell phone technology.

The caller was visiting a friend in Noble County, but she thought she was in Kosciusko County.

The call came into dispatch at 1:33 a.m. on June 14.

Here's a transcribed version of the 911 call:

Dispatcher: "What's the address of the emergency?"
Caller: "Umm what is the address here?"
Dispatcher: "And what is the phone number you're calling from?"
Caller: "I don't know, it's a cell phone. I don't have a clue."

The caller was visiting a friend when the modular home caught fire.

Dispatcher: "You have to calm down so I understand what's going on. What is on fire? Do you see the flames?"
Caller: "Um yeah, I can see a little bit of smoke. The whole back of the house is on fire."
Dispatcher: "Are you in Mishawaka or South Bend?"
Caller: "Um dear, I am in Kosciusko County."
Dispatcher: "You're in Kosciusko County?"

The caller eventually told the dispatcher the address, but she didn't realize she was in Noble County. It took dispatchers 10 minutes to send help. By the time emergency crews arrived on scene, it was almost 30 minutes after the original call came in.

"Fires double very quickly. To have a 10-minute delay because we have to interrogate and find out what counties we're in, it's unfortunate," said Coni McCloughen, St. Joseph County Fire Dispatch Supervisor.

Both dispatchers and cell phone companies agree that there's no real reason to explain how 911 cell phone calls can bounce from a cell phone tower in one county to a tower several counties away.

"I think the biggest issue we're facing today is technology is advancing so fast. When enhanced 911 started, it was through your technology in your landlines in your home and you would get the dial, you would get your address pinpointed exactly," said McCloughen.

Now technology often leaves dispatchers to figure out the location of an emergency on their own. As far as coming up with a solution to fix this problem, dispatchers say there really isn't one.

All cell phones made after 2003 are required by law to have the ability for dispatchers to locate a caller. However, cell phone companies are still in the process of making all of their towers fit this standard.

911 dispatchers are trained to deal with the unexpected, but this is forcing them to go back to old fashioned methods of dispatching — interrogating callers about their surroundings and the major landmarks around them.

In the case from Noble County, dispatchers had the caller go to a house with a landline to get them connected with the 911 dispatchers closest to them.