On the telephone line between callers and emergency operators, the location of the incident can get lost in translation.

When Rebel Black from Lightning Ridge called 000 to report a fire 20 kilometres north of Lightning Ridge on the night of 17 November, the operator told her they already had a fire on the Bill O'Brien Way and Benny Walford Crossing in town. 

Ms Black called back around 15 minutes later to clarify that these could not be the same incidents as she was trying to report a fire on private property off the Castlereagh Highway. 

The Lightning Ridge resident the operator told her, 'It's the same fire, Madam,' and hung up on her. 

"Both were incredibly dismissive of me and left me wondering if the reports had happened and if the right help would be received," Ms Black said.  

When Ms Black took her story to social media, the response showed that she was not alone in her concerns. 

"It's not just Lightning Ridge. It's all rural properties," Ms Black said. 

The Lightning Ridge resident said she empathizes with the 000 operators. 

"I understand why [the operators] get frustrated if they've had more than one person report something or maybe they think people are pranking. It just highlighted a system that's not working for anybody."

"I feel for the people working in the call centres, but to be treated like an idiot isn't fun."

NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) used a waterbombing aircraft and heavy machinery to extinguish the blaze spanning more than 100 hectares.

Fire and Rescue NSW said there are several ways through which the location of an incident is identified. 

"There are a number of location data sources on top of information provided by a caller than can identify locations including the callers billing address, and for mobile phones the GPS coordinates of the handset," a Fire and Rescue (FR) NSW spokesperson said. 

"Fire and Rescue operators are also supported by a computer-aided dispatch system which assists in finding the location of the call, identifying the nearest fire resources and helps to alert the most appropriate resources so they can respond to the incident." 

"NSW is divided into fire districts with FRNSW and NSW RFS each responsible for particular areas," a FR NSW spokesperson said. 

"There are also Mutual Aid Agreements and Memorandums of Understanding in place where agencies assist one another in rural and regional areas.

"The dispatch system contains all the necessary information to automatically determine the responsible agency for response." 

The RFS announced on 20 November they are introducing changes to improve public information on the Hazards Near Me app and the RFS public website to improve life updates and communication about fire incidents. 

This includes a new incident status 'responding' to let users know if crews are on the way. 

 The Hazards Near Me app recently introduced the' responding' status.

Ms Black said she plans to report the incident to the relevant department.