CLEVELAND -- A fire engine that would have been the first truck sent to the

fatal fire on Crawford Road Tuesday

was never sent because its firefighters were at the Cleveland Clinic moving an obese patient.

The hospital called 9-1-1 and asked for help moving a morbidly obese man with high-blood pressure to another Clinic building one block away. The man was on an examination table surrounded by hospital staff when a worker called 9-1-1, according to an audiotape of the call.

City officials don't know if the firefighters from Engine 17 could have saved Delores Richardson, the 70-year-old woman who died in the fire. But the safety director doesn't understand why the hospital needed four firefighters and two EMS paramedics to do work that could have been done by orderlies at the hospital.

Cleveland Safety Director Martin Flask plans to demand answers from hospital officials.

Cleveland Clinic officials declined to answer questions about the incident. They e-mailed the following response:

"Cleveland Clinic transports patients in need to the emergency department. Healthcare providers on the scene assess patients and determine the need for assistance. Due to transport needs of multiple patients, the Clinic requested an ambulance from Cleveland EMS, a service they have provided to Cleveland Clinic in the past."

No fire or EMS official could recall ever receiving a similar type of call from the Clinic, Flask said. Dispatchers sent both Engine 17 and an EMS ambulance because two EMS paramedics could not have handled a morbidly obese patient by themselves, Flask said.

Stephen Palek, president of the EMS union, said the Clinic should have the staff and equipment to move any patient without calling EMS or the fire department for help.

Firefighters estimated the patient's weight between 350 and 400 pounds, said Chester Ashton, president of the firefighters union. The man scooted off the exam table onto an EMS cot and was rolled from the fourth floor to the first and placed in the EMS ambulance.

The man was dropped off around the block at the Cleveland Clinic emergency room, Ashton said.

Engine 17 would have been the first to respond to the fatal fire if it was not tied up at the Clinic, Ashton said. He could not estimate how much faster Engine 17 would have gotten there than the other fire engines that responded.

Eyewitnesses said Richardson nearly escaped her burning house, but a wall of flames halted her a few steps from the front door on Crawford Road. Her husband, son and grandson escaped the blaze uninjured. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.

Here is how the calls came in:

The Clinic called at 1:14 p.m. asking for help moving the obese patient. Dispatchers sent the EMS unit and Engine 17 from East 66th Street. Both units arrived within minutes.

At 1:20 p.m., the city received the call for the fire on Crawford Road. Engine 10, based at 1935 East 101st Street, would have been the closest unit but was doing a routine drill at the Fire Training Academy on Lakeside Avenue.

Ladder 10, based at the same station, was returning from a false alarm on Mayfield Road. With Engine 17 at the Clinic, Ladder 10 was sent to the fire.

Engine 22, based at 7300 Superior Ave., was also sent to the fire. Both units and Rescue Squad 3 arrived within four minutes and 39 seconds after receiving the call, officials said.

Ashton said firefighters don't question any call they receive.

"We should not have sent either unit," he said. "My God. It is a hospital."