"We have no internet. We have no CAD': Phoenix dispatchers make do during emergency system crash

The computer systems that track emergency calls and help send out life-saving crews went down Thursday night for most cities around the Valley, causing dispatchers to fall back to paper and pen until daybreak.

A flawed software update caused a global outage for Microsoft systems, according to cybersecurity CrowdStrike.

Fire and police departments in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, Queen Creek, and Mesa, all reported to the Arizona Republic that their systems had crashed.

"We are working off cards right now … We have no internet. We have no CAD … we're still working on it," one Phoenix dispatcher said.

Dispatchers have contingency plans for when the computer-aided dispatch system goes down or stops working, allowing them to still take calls and direct them to the appropriate personnel.

Mesa dispatchers, like many others across the Valley, switched over to a “manual” process, according to Mesa Police Detective Brandi Myers.

Call takers, who answer 911 calls, would record a caller's information on paper and then have a runner deliver it to the appropriate dispatcher. For fire-related calls, the information would be given to a dispatcher who could send out a fire crew. For crime-related calls, it would be delivered to a dispatcher who could forward it to a police patrol. Dispatchers would then relay the information to the correct department and coordinate with a crew to respond via radio.

“You could categorize it as a pre-computer way of handling calls for service,” said Phoenix Police Sergeant Robert Scherer

The manual process is trained across the board from call takers to responding crews.

“Our communication’s employees train new 911 operators and dispatchers how to enter and process all calls when we are manual. They also train dispatchers to dispatch police units while manual. All staff are familiar with having to operate manual as it is part of our continuous operations plan,” Myers said.

To help speed up the process the communication staff used a shorthand, she explained.

For some departments, the issues lasted seven hours, while for others it was five. However, across the valley, most dispatch centers had their computer systems up and running again by sunrise.

Scottsdale reported no gaps in calls and was back to normal by 3:30 a.m. In some areas, such as Phoenix, calls needed to be logged into the computer-aided system once it was restored.

Departments across the Valley said that the contingency plan went as intended. While some were still reviewing the outcomes, none reported any major issues.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix emergency services recover after CrowdStrike outage