A Northern California city has been operating its emergency response on a backup arrangement since Friday morning, after malicious software forced officials to shut down the entire municipal computer network, including the systems that handle 911 routing.
Suisun City, a Solano County community of roughly 30,000 people northeast of San Francisco, said in a statement that the software infected and compromised its information technology systems at about 5:45 a.m. Friday, hitting critical public safety operations including 911 routing, police and fire dispatch, records and city services. The City Council declared a state of emergency at a special meeting the following morning, a designation that lets the city access emergency support services quickly and recoup costs.
The workaround matters more to residents than the incident itself. Suisun City dispatchers moved to Solano County's second emergency dispatch center in Fairfield and are fielding 911 calls from there. Police and fire crews are still responding.
The Timeline of a Municipal Shutdown
The city shut down its entire IT network to contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation. That decision is what produced the visible disruption, not the software alone. A city spokesperson said the network is configured to shut down automatically when it detects an intruder, and that while some software became unusable, there was no interruption to emergency services or to dispatchers answering 911 calls.
City Hall was closed Monday, and several departments were unavailable for in-person business. Online services including water bill payment and permit processing remain down. Officials have given no estimated restoration time.
The city says it is working with its insurance company, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services to investigate and restore systems. The FBI's Sacramento field office, which handles federal crimes in Solano County, would neither confirm nor deny its involvement when asked by a local outlet.
Officials have not identified the software as ransomware, named a suspected source, or said whether any information was taken. Asked whether the city would pay a ransom, the city manager said he did not have an answer and that a negotiation team would navigate that question. Those points remain open, and treating them as answered would be premature. What is confirmed is the disruption, the shutdown decision and the dispatch workaround.
Rerouting Keeps Calls Moving and Changes the Details
Police Chief Aaron Roth told local outlets that the incident has disrupted how the department normally does things, while stressing that service continues. "If you call 911 and you're in Suisun City, you will get a police dispatcher, you will get fire and police services," Roth said. The city has consistently said there is no imminent threat to the public.
Understanding what a backup arrangement does and does not preserve is useful for anyone in a jurisdiction that might face the same thing.
A 911 call is not simply a phone call. Modern systems attach location data, feed a computer-aided dispatch program that tracks which units are available and where, and log the call into records systems. When a city's own network is offline, dispatchers work from another agency's infrastructure. Call answering continues. The supporting layers can degrade.
Federal cybersecurity guidance has noted that ransomware and similar incidents can knock out computer-aided dispatch systems and push responders back to manual dispatching, a slower process that depends on radio traffic and human tracking rather than a screen showing unit status. Suisun City officials have not reported that happening here.
The practical translation for a caller is straightforward. State your location out loud and clearly, even if you are calling from a mobile phone and expect the system to know it. Do not assume the dispatcher can see an address on a screen.
Emergency Medical Response Runs Through Dispatch
Most people think of 911 as police. For medical emergencies, dispatch is the step that determines how fast a paramedic arrives and what they know before they get there.
Dispatchers assign a priority level based on the caller's description, select which unit responds, and in many systems provide pre-arrival instructions such as compression-only CPR coaching for a cardiac arrest or bleeding control guidance for a serious injury. Those instructions matter. Bystander CPR started before an ambulance arrives measurably improves survival odds in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Time is the variable that carries clinical weight. For cardiac arrest, stroke and severe trauma, minutes change outcomes. Suisun City officials have reported no delays in response.
Residents with a household member who has a seizure disorder, a cardiac condition, severe allergies or another situation likely to generate an emergency call have a reason to prepare slightly more than usual. Knowing the exact street address, cross street, and unit number, and having a current medication list where a responder can find it, compensates for information the system may not automatically supply.
Steps for Residents During a Dispatch Outage
Call 911 for any genuine emergency. That instruction has not changed and should not be second-guessed. Officials have been explicit that the emergency line is functioning.
State your address first, before describing the problem. Repeat it. If you are calling for someone else, say where they are rather than where you are.
For non-emergency police matters, use the department's non-emergency number rather than 911, which keeps the backup arrangement clear for actual emergencies. City business that would normally be handled online may need to wait or be done in person once departments reopen.
Households should not attempt to reach hospitals or ambulance services directly instead of calling 911. Dispatch coordinates which unit responds and routes patients appropriately, and bypassing it generally slows care rather than speeding it.
Anyone who receives a call or message claiming to be from the city about the incident and requesting payment or personal information should treat it with suspicion and verify through official channels. Disruptions of this kind are frequently followed by opportunistic scams.
The city has said it will provide updates as systems are cleared and restored, and the state of emergency remains in effect. MedicalDaily will report the restoration timeline and any findings about the scope of the incident.
Key Questions Answered
Is 911 working in Suisun City? Yes. Calls are being answered through the Solano County dispatch center, and police and fire crews are responding normally.
What happened? Malicious software compromised city IT systems early Friday, and officials shut down the entire network to contain it and preserve evidence.
Was this ransomware? Officials have not identified the software as ransomware, named a source, or said whether data was taken.
Should residents do anything differently when calling? State the exact address clearly and first, since location data that normally populates automatically may not be available.
What city services are down? Online services including water bill payment and permit processing, along with in-person business at several departments.
Who is investigating? The city says it is working with its insurer, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and California's emergency services office.
When will systems be restored? No estimate has been given.
