A statewide 911 outage in Massachusetts has been resolved after the system was down for over an hour on Tuesday, the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security announced.
The Massachusetts 911 system has been restored, the agency said. The State 911 Department is investigating the cause of the disruption. The first outage was reported by the department at 2:17 p.m.
Residents received a public safety alert message on their phones just after 2:30 p.m., stating that 911 services were down statewide and delays in public safety response may occur. The alert advised residents to call their local Public Safety business line directly in case of an emergency.
During the outage, residents were instructed to contact local police departments for assistance or pull the local red call box on streets and corners to alert fire/EMS. The State 911 Department urged residents to limit calls to emergencies only.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu mentioned the 911 system outage during a news conference about public safety for an upcoming parade. She assured that the city was working with state and relevant officials to resolve the issue.
Following the outage, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security advised residents to resume calling 911 for emergencies. The agency also emphasized the importance of using the direct line for local police and limiting calls to emergencies only.
The outage in the 911 system caused concern among residents and officials, but with the system now restored, normal emergency services have resumed in Massachusetts.