The 9-1-1 system is now working again.

Emergency calls to 9-1-1 are again directly reaching the SunComm center that serves several first responder agencies in Yakima County.  On Thursday evening, an outage that originated with CenturyLink resulted in SunComm switching to a backup phone number.  Emergencies could also be reported during the outage by texting 9-1-1.

The outage affected 9-1-1 calling capabilities in multiple western states as well as other internet-based services in several areas of the U.S.  At about 9:45 pm on Thursday, CenturyLink posted on its Twitter feed that, “CenturyLink engineers have identified a network element that was impacting customer services and are addressing the issue in order to fully restore services.”

During the outage, people in Yakima County served by SunComm were directed to report emergencies by calling 509-457-0207.
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PREVIOUS COVERAGE

A major outage of the 9-1-1 system is impacting the entire state. The city of Yakima issued a news release to explain the problem.

"Emergency calls to 9-1-1 at the SunComm center that serves several first responder agencies in Yakima County is being affected by an outage that is being attributed to an as yet undetermined issue originating with Century Link.

Until the Century Link issues are resolved, people in Yakima County can call 509-457-0207.  Calls will then be forwarded to SunComm.  Texting 9-1-1 is working at this time.

The outage has affected multiple western states including Washington, Idaho, Oregon,

Montana, and Colorado and has also created issues for 9-1-1 calls in several other states."

 

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