Emergency communications across TN impacted by cell service outage
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Emergency communications across Tennessee were impacted Thursday by a nationwide cell service outage.
“It’s really affected our call volume a lot,” Maury County 911 Director Mark Gandee told News 2.
AT&T says wireless network restored after widespread outage hit users across US
The low call volume caused concerns as to if those in need were getting through to emergency dispatchers.
“It’s a little concerning. We don’t know if someone is trying to reach us and can’t get into the network. We have no instance of that that we are aware of now. We are continuing to monitor two or three different venues that we can get additional data, but we have no indication that nobody is trying to contact us that was trying to contact us,” Gandee explained.
It was a concern echoed through Rutherford County.
‘It took us back to the Dark Ages’: Nashville locals, tourists get creative amid AT&T outage
“When, you know, you have an impairment to your software, you are worried about what is happening to your citizens and who is trying to call you, who is in distress,” said Rutherford County Emergency Communications District Director Cassie Lowery.
Outages for wireless users started around 3 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, and carried on through much of the day, primarily with AT&T users.
“They hold the state contract for delivery of 911 to each of the 911 centers across the state,” said Lowery, explaining that the issue Thursday was for wireless and FirstNet.
Some Murfreesboro police officers reported issues, which Lowery said can have a domino effect.
What is SOS mode? What to do when you lose phone service
“Aside from their cellphone, many of them have devices in their cars also for tracking, so if you were to lose connection with an officer, you might be able to locate them via that. They also use some of these mobile devices so that their MDTs can update with the information that is being entered into the [computer-generated] dispatch card for that information on the calls that they are going to, and some of them may have lost connectivity depending upon which service they use for those,” Lowery said.
According to Lowery, dispatchers switched over to monitoring a RapidSOS application at each of their centers: the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, Murfreesboro Police Department, Smyrna Police Department and La Vergne Police Department. She explained that the app notifies dispatchers if a call drops when someone attempts to call 911. Dispatchers can then attempt to try and call the caller back.
⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com
“I do believe having that third party application did help ease the minds of the telecommunicators. This is exactly the same scenario that we went through after the Christmas Day bombing, knowing that we had lost the capability of receiving calls from certain types of callers, being AT&T. We also knew that we had to find a way to remedy that and luckily we had that tool, so that does give them a little peace of mind,” Lowery said.
Lowery and Gandee both reported residents tried to test their phones by calling 911, which they discourage, saying those calls can tie up lines.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
