Pennsylvania reports statewide intermittent 911 outage

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said Friday afternoon that 911 systems statewide were experiencing intermittent outages.

The cause of the problem was still under investigation.

At a Friday evening news conference, Randy Padfield, director of PEMA, said an issue was first detected around 2 p.m. with calls going into the Delaware County 911 system.

When problems were reported with other counties, a statewide phone alert was issued.

Padfield stressed that the problem was intermittent.

“It seemed like a majority of the calls were being delivered. However, there were intermittent issues related to that,” such as with location data for where the call was originating, Padfield said.

Padfield asked that the public first call 911 if they have an emergency, and then call alternate numbers if they can’t get through.

He also asked for people not to test call 911.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a social media post that he had been briefed by PEMA on the situation.

“We are on top of the issue and working to restore full service as quickly as possible. 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. Updates to follow," Shapiro said.

PEMA said in the phone alert shortly before 3:25 p.m. that “Individuals experiencing issues contacting 911 are asked to contact their local 911 Center on their non-Emergency lines.”

At 3:46 p.m., PEMA posted on social media: “We are working with technical experts to resolve the issue and restore service as quickly as possible. Please only call 911 for true emergencies. Do not call just to check whether it is working.”

PEMA added: “If you can’t get through and need emergency response, call your local 911 office directly. Find yours: http://readypa.info/psaps"

The Red Cross Philadelphia posted a list of numbers for Southeastern Pennsylvania that can be used for emergency calls if 911 is inaccessible.

For Bucks County, call 215-328-8500.

For Delaware County, call 610-891-5200.

For Montgomery County, call 610-635-4300.

For Philadelphia, call 215-686-8686 or 311.

The Chester County Department of Emergency Services asked residents having problems with emergency calls to call 610-436-4700.

Some local police departments also suggested residents can call the nonemergency numbers for those individual departments.

The Philadelphia Police Department urged residents to continue attempting to call 911 in the event of an emergency because some calls were still going through.

“If you are unable to reach 911, please call your local Philadelphia Police District directly,” the department said, offering a list of police district phone numbers.

As the intermittent issues continued after 7 p.m., the department issued a statement asking people not to call 911 or the district numbers to test the system.

“We are experiencing a significant number of callers to those numbers stating that they wanted to check to see if it’s working,” the department said.