Crime & Safety
911 Service Restored After Brief, Widespread Outage In Washington
A widespread 911 outage affected cities across Washington for about 30 minutes Thursday. The cause remains under investigation.
SEATTLE, WA — A large outage affected 911 call centers on both sides of the Cascades for close to 30 minutes Thursday. The state Emergency Management Department said outage reports poured in across the state, beginning a few minutes before 4:30 p.m. In Seattle, the police department tweeted that 911 services were down, but text-to-911 remained operational.
We are getting widespread reports from counties in both Western & Eastern Washington (but not everywhere) of a 911 outage impacting their systems. Our state E911 Coordination Office is investigating the cause. This website has alternative numbers to use. https://t.co/FVeTp9s28P
— WA Emergency Management (@waEMD) October 22, 2020
911 Services appear to be down. Please call the backup number at 206-625-5011 if you have an emergency. We will let you know when 911 services return. This appears to be an issue outside of Seattle as well. Take a moment to find out if your city has a backup number.
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) October 22, 2020
An outage is affecting 911 service. If you have an emergency in Pierce County call 253-798-4061 or text 911. This line (253-798-4061) is activated when 911 service is disrupted. Please DO NOT test it or 911. These #s are for EMERGENCIES ONLY.
— South Sound 911 (@SouthSound911) October 22, 2020
Emergency management officials reported some counties that were down got back online shortly after 4:50 p.m. A spokesperson for Washington State Patrol confirmed all service was restored a few minutes later. An investigation into the cause of the outage is still underway
#LastUpdate. All 911 services have been restored! Thank you for keeping me informed @wastatepatrol communications supervisor Michelle Cuevas!!!
— Trooper Rick Johnson (@wspd2pio) October 22, 2020
Several counties and cities maintain backup emergency numbers for 911, in case of an outage. Callers should not attempt to call these numbers or 911 to "test" the system, but are encouraged to store save local numbers to their phone in the event of an emergency.
Find out what's happening in Seattlefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Washington's backup emergency numbers:
Washington State Patrol
Find out what's happening in Seattlefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- Pierce & Thurston: 253-538-3240
- King: 425-401-7798
- Asotin, Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Walla Walla, Yakima: 509-575-2320
- Colfax, Colville, Ritzville, Spokane: 509-227-6566
- Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Lewis, Skamania: 360-449-7999
- Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Okanogan: 509-682-8090
- Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, Whatcom: 360-654-1200
King County:
- Port of Seattle (& Sea-Tac Airport): 206-787-5401
- Bothell Police (& Lake Forest Park): 425-486-1254
- Redmond Police (& Duvall): 425-556-2500
- Seattle Police: 206-583-2111 or 206-625-5011
- University of Washington: 206-685-8973
- Issaquah Police (& Snoqualmie & North Bend): 425-837-3200
- Enumclaw Police: 360-825-3505
- Eastside NORCOM: (Normandy Park, Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Clyde Hill & Medina) 425-577-5656
- Valley Communications Center (Renton, Tukwila, Des Moines, Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, Algona, Pacific, & Black Diamond): 253-852-2121
- King County Sheriff (Beauz Arts Village, Burien, Carnation, Kenmore, KCIA, Maply Valley, Metro Transit, Muckleshoot, Newcastle, Sammamish, City of SeaTac, Shoreline, Skykomish, Sound Transit, Woodinville, Covington, and Vashon Island): 206-296-3311
Pierce County:
- 911: 253-798-4722
- JBLM: 253-912-4442
Snohomish County:
SnoCom: 425-407-3970
Other counties:
- Adams County Dispatch 509-659-1122
- Othello Area 509-488-2061
- City of Ritzville 509-659-1313
- City of Othello 509-488-3314
- Asotin County Dispatch 509-243-4171
- Clarkston 509-758-2331
- Benton Couty Dispatch 509-628-0333
- Chelan/Douglas Dispatch 509-663-9911 or 800-452-1732
- Clallam County Dispatch 360-417-2259/2459 or 360-417-4970
- Clark County Dispatch 360-693-3111
- Columbia County Dispatch 509-382-2518
- Cowlitz County Dispatch 360-577-3098
- Woodland & Amboy 360-225-8981
- PIO Media Questions 360-430-6329
- Douglas County 509-663-9911 or 800-452-1732
- Ferry County Dispatch 509-775-3132
- Franklin County Dispatch 509-628-0333
- Garfield County Dispatch 509-843-3493 or 509-843-3494
- Grant County Dispatch 509-762-1160
- Grays Harbor County Dispatch 800-281-6944 or 360-533-8765
- Island County Dispatch (see below)
- North and Central Whidbey 360-679-9567
- South Whidbey 360-321-4400
- Camano Island 360-629-2224
- Jefferson County Dispatch 360-385-3831 or 360-344-9779 EXT. 0
- Kitsap County Dispatch 360-307-5844
- Kittitas County (See Below)
- Upper Kittias 509-674-2584
- Lower Kitttias 509-925-8534
- Klickitat County Dispatch 509-773-4545
- Lewis County Dispatch 360-740-1105
- Lincoln County Dispatch 509-725-3501
- Mason County Dispatch 360-426-4441
- Belfair 360-277-5080
- Okanogan County Dispatch 590-422-7232 or 509-422-6968 or 509-422-6967
- Pacific County (See Below)
- South Bend 360-875-9397
- Long Beach 360-642-9397
- Pend Oreille County Dispatch 509-447-1980
- San Juan County Dispatch 360-378-4141
- Skagit County Dispatch 360-428-3211 or 360-336-3131
- Skamania County Dispatch 509-427-9490
- Spokane County 509-456-2233
- Stevens County 509-684-2555 or 509-675-7877 or 509-690-7717 or 509-690-1452
- Thurston County 360-704-2740
- Wahkiakum County 360-795-3535
- Walla Walla County 509-527-1960 & 509-527-3766 (Alarms)
- Whatcom County 360-676-6911/6711
- Bellingham Fire 360-676-6811
- Whitman 509-334-6601
- Yakima County 509-453-9000
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