2 Deaths During Montgomery County's 911 Outage Investigated

Rockville, MD — Family members of a Rockville man with breathing problems say they dialed 911 for an hour without success before calling the local fire station to seek help for their struggling father.

Marlon Somarriba, 40, from Rockville, died Sunday night at his home.

His health troubles took place during the two hours that Montgomery County’s 911 system was down after an air conditioning unit broke down. Media reports say that a 91-year-old Olney woman also died during the emergency system outage.

Luis Somarriba, Marlon’s brother, said the family repeatedly dialed 911 to get help for Marlon. But all they heard were busy signals.

Luis Somarriba finally called the City of Rockville Police directly, an ambulance was sent to the ailing man’s home, but it was too late.

“They told me to stay back, then they told me he was gone,” Luis Somarriba told NBC Washington.

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Montgomery County spokesman Patrick Lacefield told The Washington Post it was unclear if the outage was involved in either death. County officials are gathering information and want to know whether immediate 911 response could have made a difference in either case.

“I am calling for an immediate investigation into the outage and what impact it may have had on the County’s response times to emergencies – as well as any consequences,” said County Executive Ike Leggett in a news release, “I also want a thorough evaluation of the systems that support 911 to make sure that the systems have the stability to withstand whatever power surges or blips that could cascade into even a partial system outage. County residents must be able to count on a prompt response to emergencies.”

Emergency officials said Monday night that the system is again operating as normal.

During an emergency, the public should call 911 for an emergency response from police, fire and emergency medical services. If a caller hears a busy signal or is unable to get through on 911, the caller should contact 311 or the closest local fire station or police district station.

Montgomery County Police say the outage lasted from 11:10 p.m. to 1:09 a.m. after an air conditioning unit failed and the system shut down to prevent overheating.

Authorities reached out to county residents by social media and the Alert Montgomery warning system to share alternative ways to call for help. The County’s 3-1-1 call center was activated early Monday morning to assist.

Currently, Montgomery County’s 911 and non-emergency 301-279-8000 lines are functioning, but as repairs are made, there remains a possibility that a caller could receive a busy signal, police said.

What to Do if 911 Gives Busy Signal

In an emergency, any caller who hears a busy signal or is unable to reach a 911 operator, should call 3-1-1 or 240-777-0311. Police officers and fire and rescue personnel are on duty at the MC311 call center to assist with any emergency calls.

Police District Stations

• Rockville Station 240-773-6070
• Bethesda Station 240-773-670
• Silver Spring 240-773-6800
• Wheaton 240-773-5500
• Germantown 240-773-6200
• Gaithersburg 240-773-5700

Anyone uncertain as to which police district serves a particular community should see:http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pol/districts/whatsmydistrict.html

Fire station addresses and phone numbers can be found online.

Public safety officials on Monday urged residents and business owners to determine now which Fire Rescue and Police locations are closest to them and not wait until there is an emergency.