Massachusetts suffers brief statewide outage of 911 emergency system

[June 19, 2024]  (Reuters) -The 911 system for emergency calls in Massachusetts went down for about an hour on Tuesday as the region sweltered under a punishing heat wave.  

Fire call boxes continue to function during a statewide outage in the 911 system for emergency calls, in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S., June 18, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The outage left residents briefly unable to call 911 for police, fire or ambulance assistance even as temperatures soared into the 90s Fahrenheit and as officials issued heat advisories or warnings.

"The Massachusetts 911 system has been restored. The public may now resume calling 911 for emergencies," the Massachusetts Office of Public Safety and Security said on the social media site X shortly before 4 p.m. eastern.

State officials said the cause of the disruption was under investigation.

During the outage Boston Mayor Michelle Wu held a news conference with law enforcement officials, telling residents that they should use direct local police or fire numbers in case of an emergency.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, Editing by Franklin Paul, Sandra Maler and David Gregorio)

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