Here’s what happened at What-Comm emergency dispatch when other 911 lines went down
Most of Whatcom County didn’t lose 911 service Thursday and dispatchers continued to operate Friday despite a widespread outage that affected several U.S. states, including Washington.
According to Associated Press, a nationwide CenturyLink outage disrupted 911 services in parts of Western Washington.
But What-Comm, the county’s emergency dispatch center, continued to operate, said Deputy Director Greg Erickson.
“We were one of a handful of counties that maintained 911 services throughout the night,” Erickson said Friday morning via Facebook Messenger.
“I am continuing to be in communication with the state E911 office as well as CenturyLink, monitoring the situation and gathering information as it becomes available,” Erickson said.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Friday that the federal government is investigating the outage, which began Thursday morning.
“The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” Pai said in a statement posted at fcc.gov. “I’ve directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into the cause and impact of this outage.”
Reason for the outrage wasn’t known Friday morning.
An emergency alert sent at 11:34 p.m. Thursday to mobile phone subscribers in Whatcom County instructed residents to call the direct line to their local police and fire departments in case of emergency, not 911.
“Widespread 911 outage in WA,” the alert read. “In case of emergency, call local police or fire department.”
Service to Western Washington University police dispatch is affected, said John Thompson Assistant Director of the WWU Office of Communications and Marketing.
Students and staff were urged to call 911 in an emergency instead of the police number, Thompson said in an email.
Meanwhile, service continued at What-Comm, where dispatchers direct calls to police or to a fire/medical dispatch center staffed by Bellingham Fire Department.
Social media posts from Bellingham Fire and What-Comm about 11:45 p.m. Thursday urged residents to disregard the emergency alert.
“Please do not call 911 in regards to the statewide text sent to all cellphones,” What-Comm posted on its Facebook page.
It also wasn’t clear why Whatcom County wasn’t affected, Erickson said.
“We did see an increase in calls to our center after the statewide alert was put out advising of a statewide 911 outage,” he said. “I will add that our dispatchers have done an outstanding job of testing our 911 lines and watching for any signs of issues while communicating with me throughout the night.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2018 at 8:26 AM.
