Local News

Actions

911 outages caused by light pole installation, according to Lumen

911 calls
Posted at 7:07 PM, Apr 17, 2024
and last updated 2024-04-18 20:27:57-04

April 18, 5:30 p.m. - Workers installing a light pole in Missouri cut into a fiber line, knocking out 911 services in several states, a Lumen official told the Associated Press on Thursday.

The incident happened in Kansas City, Missouri when workers installing a light pole for another company cut into a Lumen Technologies fiber line.

April 18, 11 a.m. - FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has issued the following statement on reported 911 outages.

"When you call 911 in an emergency, it is vital that call goes through. The FCC has already begun investigating the 911 multi-state outages that occurred last night to get to the bottom of the cause and impact."
Jessica Rosenworcel, FCC Chairwoman

April 18, 10:45 a.m. - Emergency call system provider Lumen tells ABC News that Wednesday's 911 outage was caused by a light pole installation done by a third party, unrelated to Lumen. The company sent the following statement.

"On April 17, some customers in Nevada, South Dakota, and Nebraska experienced an outage due to a third-party company installing a light pole - unrelated to our services. We restored all services in approximately two and a half hours. Our techs identified the issue and worked hard to fix it as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate our customers' patience and understanding.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating the outage."
Lumen

April 18, 8:54 a.m. - Clark County authorities and Las Vegas Metro Police Department released the following statement regarding Wednesday night's outage:

“The MultiAgency Coordination Center was activated last night by Clark County’s Office of Emergency Management to coordinate regional efforts to address the 911 outage, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department established unified command to ensure that police, fire and medical needs from the community were not unmet. Through this coordinated effort, an alternative solution was established, but full 911 service was restored before this was implemented. At this time, there are no known emergencies that were unable to be addressed during this brief timeframe. The region’s coordinated response to emergencies works to ensure the safety of the public is maintained. The cause of the outage remains under investigation.”

April 17, 9:15 p.m. - Henderson police said 911 and non-emergency calls are now working and coming into our dispatch center.

If anyone was called during the outage, they have been called back and provided assistance.

April 17, 9 p.m. - Las Vegas police and Nevada State Police said 911 phone service has been restored.

All of the individuals who called during the outage have been called back and provided assistance.

Non-emergency calls are also working.

April 17, 8:30 p.m. - Nye County is also experiencing some issues with their 911 system.

According to Nye county, their phone systems can receive 911 calls but not through the non-emergency number.

They are asking the public to not call 911 unless it's an emergency.

April 17, 8:15 p.m. - Las Vegas Fire & Rescue and Nevada State Police are also reporting 911 outages.

April 17, 7:30 p.m. - Henderson police are experiencing a 911 outage as well, which is affecting calls from landlines and cell phones.

However, they state the text to 911 feature is still functional and Rapid SOS is still working.

There is no estimated time for the system to be fully restored.

April 17, 7 p.m. - Some outages could be impacting your ability to call 911.

According to Las Vegas police, 911 calls from landlines are not working, as of 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.

They add there is no estimated time for when that could be restored.

If you call 911 from a mobile number, operators will be able to see your number and call you back right away.

"Please do not attempt to call 911 to check," police said in a social media post. "Please keep our 911 system available for life-threatening emergencies."

Non-emergency calls are not impact by the outage.

If you have a non-emergency call, you can still contact police at (702) 828-3111.

The Text 911 feature is still working. You can learn more about that here.