Greene 911 system down for hours
WAYNESBURG – The Greene County 911 system went down for about three hours Thursday, but emergency officials were able to shift gears and prepare for the worst. “We noticed at about 4:25 p.m. that we had no phone service, and everything came online finally at 7:20 p.m.” said Greene County Emergency Management Director Jeff Marshall. The problem, he said, occurred within Alltel’s fiber-optic phone system.
About two-thirds of the incoming phone lines went down, along with all of the seven-digit, non-emergency lines, radios and the cellular lines, he said.
While operators continued to man calls on the remaining phones, the county put its emergency disaster plan into effect, Marshall said.
The mobile unit was dispatched to a location where it could maintain radio contact, so the emergency officials lost contact for only about 30 minutes, he said.
In that time, dispatches were sent to local radio and television stations, asking residents to call the state police in Waynesburg to report an emergency.
At the same time, local fire companies and police departments were asked to man their stations and be on standby.
While the plan was put into motion, officials at the Washington County 911 center assisted their Greene County counterparts, Marshall said. “With help from the media and all of the support we received, I hope nothing was missed. Certainly nothing has come to our attention as yet,” he said.
State police at Waynesburg reported that while their call volume was higher than usual, officers were able to handle the situation. Troopers handling calls reported spurts of activity.
No one was available at Alltel to comment on the service interruption.