UPDATE: Montgomery County 911 Service Restored

Update: Friday, 10/28, 5:18 a.m.

911 service in Montgomery County has been restored, officials with the Department of Public Safety confirmed early Friday morning.

A contractor in Wayne struck a conduit containing communications lines, causing issues for those using landlines calling 911.

Verizon technicians resolved the issue and had the lines repaired early Friday morning.

According to authorities, no individuals were put in danger during the down period as a result of the degraded service.

Thursday

Callers are having trouble getting through to 911 in Montgomery County, officials said on Thursday afternoon. According to the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety, the issues are due to a phone cable that was accidentally cut in the area.

Officials said at 4:30 p.m. that a contractor using digging equipment severed the service line earlier in the afternoon, causing "degradation" to the 911 system.

The county's emergency notification service, ReadyMontco, sent out an alert at around 3 p.m.

"Montgomery County Department of Public Safety has been alerted by service providers of a degradation of service possibly affecting 911," the county said. "If you are attempting to call 911 and receive a busy signal or cannot get through, try your call from a cell phone, or try your call again."

The problem was first reported just before 3 p.m. Thursday.

County officials said that calls and texts from cell phones are not affected, according to officials. Many callers using landlines, however, have experienced difficulties, usually getting busy signals.

County officials said that they do not have an estimate for how long it will take phone providers to fix the cut cable.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates and more information as it becomes available.

Patch file photo.