911 outages reported for some Comcast customers, including in Whatcom

Comcast is reporting that some customers in Western Washington, Spokane and parts of Oregon may not be able to call 911.

The State Emergency Management Department says the outage reported Friday afternoon affects only Comcast customers with phone service provided through the internet.

The emergency management department says the outage in Washington potentially affects customers in 16 counties including; King, Pierce, Snohomish, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Skagit, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston and Whatcom.

Clark Regional Emergency Services in Vancouver, Washington, said in a news release at 5:45 p.m. Friday that the customer outage also was affecting the Portland, Oregon, metro area.

Authorities in various counties were recommending people use cellphones to call 911 if they need to report an emergency.

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 7:16 PM with the headline "911 outages reported for some Comcast customers, including in Whatcom."