Darlene Dukes gasped for air but got little comfort from the Fulton County 911 operator who took her final call and misdirected help that could have saved the dying woman, a 911 tape released Thursday shows.

Operator Gina Conteh, a 12-year veteran of the county's 911 operations, appeared to handle several calls while trying to find Dukes' address. Halfway though the 25-minute call she asked about Dukes' well-being, a recording of the call shows.

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Darlene Dukes was suffering from a blood clot in her lungs when she called 911 at 1:01 p.m. Saturday. She reached the Fulton County 911 call center (above). Dukes then waited more than an hour for an ambulance to reach her home in Johns Creek.

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Fulton County 911 director Rocky Moore has been accused by ambulance providers of failing to correct longstanding problems with the county's emergency center.

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When Dukes fell silent on the phone Conteh asked, "Are you OK?"

"I can't breathe," were Dukes' last words.

County officials have rushed to assure the county's nearly 1 million residents the emergency response system works.

"Never in its 33-year history has an incident occurred like the one that happened last Saturday," said Fulton County Manager Zachary Williams. He announced on Thursday an outside agency will be hired to audit "the entire 911 system."

Dukes died at Emory Johns Creek Hospital at 3:01 p.m. Saturday, according to police reports.

She was suffering from a blood clot in her lungs when she called 911 Saturday at 1:01 p.m., and she waited more than an hour before an ambulance arrived at her Johns Creek apartment.

Conteh is at the center of controversy about Fulton's emergency response. The veteran operator mistook "Wales" Drive — in Johns Creek — for "Wells" Street in southwest Atlanta. She subsequently routed the first ambulance nearly 28 miles off course.

Conteh was fired, county officials said, and a full investigation is under way. She could not be reached for comment Thursday. Reporters made several attempts on Wednesday and Thursday to contact Conteh, including driving to her Lilburn home Wednesday evening.

The operator was fired because "established procedures were not followed," Williams said. "[This] was not about a lack of training."

An independent auditor will report to Williams, not Fulton County 911 director Rocky Moore. Moore has been accused by local ambulance providers of failing to correct longstanding problems with the county's emergency center.

Moore said the job performance of all 911 operators is evaluated monthly, based upon national standards. A random sampling of calls, including emergency calls such as the one placed by Darlene Dukes, are evaluated and the operators must receive 95 percent compliance rating. They are not fired immediately if they don't meet that standard. They are judged on a case-by-case basis, Moore said.

"Most of it deals with the ability to calm a caller down," Moore said. The operators are expected to be compassionate and use "calming techniques" in order to acquire complete information about the caller. An operator's demeanor is included in their monthly performance reviews.

Moore would not answer questions about Conteh's demeanor on the call with Dukes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution acquired a copy of the 911 call through the Georgia Open Records Act, and the audio points to numerous missteps, as well as several missed opportunities to lead an ambulance in the right direction.

Gasping for air, Dukes gave her address; "602 Wales Drive."

Conteh repeated the address.

"Six-Oh-Two, Wales Drive?" the 911 operator said. "I do have an ambulance on the way there."

Conteh asked Dukes a second time for the address.

"Just confirm for me to make sure that I have your address right, 602 Wells Street ... W-E-L-L-S Street?" she said. "Is that correct?"

Dukes struggled to correct her.

"Drive ..." she said between labored breaths.

"Drive?" Conteh repeated back. "OK. You said that's Wells Drive."

"Please hurry," Dukes pleaded and then went silent.

"The lady went unconscious," Conteh said in response.

When Conteh spoke with a Grady Memorial Hospital dispatch supervisor to get help, she acknowledged that the cellphone-based call came from a north Fulton location.

"It was a cellphone," she said. "This may not even be it because it says Jones Bridge Road. That's north."

The Grady dispatcher asked Conteh the name of Dukes' apartment complex, and quickly zeroed in on where the call originated.

"She gave me St. Andrews apartments, you don't know where that is?" Conteh asked. "She gave me 602 Wells Drive."

The dispatch supervisor, whom Grady officials refused to name, listed the correct location.

"The only thing I've got [for] St. Andrews apartment is in Alpharetta off Jones Bridge," he said of the address that is located in what is now Johns Creek. "There's not one in Atlanta."

Conteh then called an Alpharetta dispatcher, who knew nothing of the ambulance request.

"Do you have an ETA for Jones Bridge Road?" she asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Alpharetta operator responded.

Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.