Massachusetts 911 outages still under investigation – NBC Boston

Massachusetts State 911 is still investigating the cause of the several-hour outage of the 911 emergency system Tuesday afternoon, officials said as they announced that citizens could again call 911 to report emergencies.

The outage, which was first reported around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday and resolved around 3:45 p.m., came as a dangerous heat wave spread across Massachusetts and Boston prepared to host a victory parade for the NBA champion Boston Celtics on Friday. While the system was down, people in emergencies were asked to call the direct number of their local police department, activate a fire station if one is operating near them, or contact the nearest police or fire station.

The state’s 911 emergency call center said it would provide more information as it became available.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu began her press conference on the Boston Celtics’ NBA championship parade with an update on the 911 emergency system outage affecting all of Massachusetts. She also asked Boston’s police and fire commissioners and the chief of emergency services to provide updates.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu highlighted the outage early Tuesday afternoon at the start of her press conference with public safety officials about this week’s extreme heat and Friday’s Celtics parade.

“It never gets boring,” the mayor said. “And we actually wanted to start by notifying people that the statewide 911 system is currently down and calls are not going through. We are in contact with the state and all relevant officials to work on a solution to the problem.”

The power outage was also discussed, albeit in a very different form, during the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

“Are we going to get hit by a tornado? I left my phone on the desk … Hopefully it’s not an alarm for the project,” said Jonathan Gulliver, MassDOT highway administrator, as his presentation on the multimodal project in Allston was interrupted by at least one phone in the MassDOT boardroom going off with a warning about the 911 outage.

The state’s 911 emergency call center is under the control of the Executive Office of Public Safety and is funded by a monthly fee of $1.50 for all devices that can access the emergency call system (e.g., cell phones).

“Massachusetts’ statewide enhanced 911 system is one of the largest systems per capita in the United States. A person dialing 911 from anywhere in the state is automatically connected to the emergency dispatch center that handles emergency calls in that area. The system provides the telephone number and address of the phone used to make the emergency call (landline calls) or the telephone number and approximate location of the caller (cellular calls), along with dispatch data for local police, fire, and emergency medical services,” the department wrote in its most recent annual report. “Emergency dispatch center personnel either directly or indirectly dispatch emergency services based on the needs of the caller.”