911 services have been restored across Pennsylvania, the state's Emergency Management Agency announced in a Facebook post.
That followed hours of intermittent outages on Friday which left agency officials scrambling to get services back online while callers were redirected to non-emergency lines.
"An investigation into what caused intermittent outages will continue, and we will update you on that as soon as we can," the PEMA post stated.
"We worked with counties to fully test that the system is operational. Please do not call 911 for testing purposes; leave lines open for true emergencies," the post added.
PEMA Director Randy Padfield said earlier Friday evening that PEMA started to receive outage reports through their Next Generation 911 (Next Gen, NG911) system around 2 p.m.
Speaking to the media shortly after 6 p.m., Padfield said it was “too early to tell” whether the outages were caused by a network issue, cyber attack or other cause, but added that PEMA has never before experienced a 911 problem of this severity.
“The root cause has yet to be identified,” Padfield said.
Our original story follows.
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Pennsylvania’s 911 systems are experiencing intermittent outages because of an unknown cause, the state Emergency Management Agency said today.
In a 3:25 p.m. alert, the agency urged people calling for emergency help to contact their 911 centers on non-emergency lines.
“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. Check your counties social media and website for more information,” PEMA over its emergency management network.
Gov. Josh Shapiro posted about the outage on X:
"I have been briefed by @PEMAHQ on the intermittent 911 outage currently happening in some parts of Pennsylvania," he wrote.
"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 added.
County non-emergency lines
Below are the non-emergency lines in area counties. For a statewide list of contacts, visit readypa.info/psaps.
- Bradford County: 570-265-5022
- Carbon County: 570-325-9123
- Columbia County: 570-784-6300
- Clinton County: 570-748-2936
- Lackawanna County: 570-342-9111 or 570-489-4767
- Luzerne County: 570-819-4916
- Lycoming County: 570-329-4060 or 570-433-3166
- Monroe County: 570-992-9911
- Montour County: 570-275-1911
- Northumberland County: 570-989-4215
- Pike County: 570-296-1911
- Schuylkill County: 570-628-3792
- Sullivan County: 570-946-7300
- Susquehanna County: 570-465-9111
- Snyder County: 570-837-3737
- Tioga County: 570-724-4666
- Wayne County: 570-253-3109
- Wyoming County: 570-836-6161
