Emergency 911 Systems Go down in Pennsylvania

On Friday, the state of Pennsylvania is racing to address an issue with its emergency 911 systems.

The issue was reported via an emergency alert as a “statewide intermittent 911 outage.” 

However, Randy Padfield, the state’s Emergency Management Director, said it isn’t an outage.

According to CBS News Philadelphia, sources said that it's a third-party company IT issue. 

The company is contracted with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

Padfield said it’s too soon to identify the reasons behind the issue, expecting that it could be a software or hardware problem.

"Pennsylvania is experiencing a statewide intermittent 911 outage. Individuals experiencing issues contacting 911 are asked to contact their local 911 Center on their non-Emergency lines,” the alert stated.

"The system continues to have some intermittent connectivity issues at this point in time. They are still trying to troubleshoot," Padfield added.

During his latest update, Padfield said it appeared that most 911 calls were going through, but he added that there were some “intermittent issues” with the calls.

"Individuals should continue to use 911, and if they would call 911 for an emergency and the call is not delivered, they should use the backup seven-digit administrative line or follow the instructions of their local 911 center or public safety answering point," said Padfield.

“We are on top of the issue and working to restore full service as quickly as possible,” Governor Josh Shapiro said in a statement on X. 

“In the meantime — stay calm, follow the directions of PEMA and local authorities, and do not call 911 for any reason other than an emergency.”