WASHINGTON — Fall fun got frightening for some corn maze customers who
called
911 when they couldn’t find they way out.
Cool Patch Pumpkins in
Dixon, California, boasts a world-record sized corn
maze with about 60 acres of twists and turns. But almost every weekend, 911
operators are fielding calls from patrons who get lost and can’t find their
way out, Deputy Daryl Snedeker from the Solano County Sheriff’s Department
told CBS
Sacramento.
“There’s a concern. There’s a bit of fear involved,” Snedeker said to CBS. “I
think they are overwhelmed. You can get a little worked up when you can’t get
out of a place and everything looks the same.”
Matt Cooley, owner of the maze, says when it gets dark, it’s difficult to
maneuver and “all you see is corn.” It’s not clear how many people have called
911 because they got lost in the maze.
Snedeker says someone from the sheriff’s department comes to the rescue, and,
in the mean time, they tell the caller to stay calm.
“We don’t laugh … it’s not a comedy to us, and our dispatchers have a very
serious job, and they take every call to 911 very serious,” he said to CBS.
Snedeker says says it’s becoming a problem because dispatchers are getting
bogged down with corn maze-related calls.
“Timing is everything. If we’ve got a critical incident occurring; if we are
in the middle of a critical incident and deputies are being dispatched to a
critical incident, that can take away from what a dispatcher needs to do,” he
said to CBS.
To avoid getting lost in Cool Patch Pumpkins’s maze and other corn mazes,
Snedeker recommends taking a map of the maze with you. Also, if you get lost,
try calling police department’s non-emergency numbers.
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