911 service fails across Washington after CenturyLink problem

December 28, 2018 / 7:26 am

caption: On New Year's Eve, a Seattle Police officer shot and killed a man on Aurora Avenue

A network malfunction at CenturyLink took out 911 service across Washington and in other states nationwide on Thursday night.

By early Friday morning, some counties were reporting that service had been restored. But King County said service was still out, and other emergency agencies warned that sporadic 911 outages could occur. They provided alternate numbers to call if you can't get through to 911 in an emergency (list below).

CenturyLink said on Thursday night that a network problem was responsible and first estimated that service would be restored in four hours. Six hours later, CenturyLink said more problems had been discovered. It gave no indication when service would be fully restored.

9-1-1 lines are currently down AGAIN.
If you need emergency service in our service area, call our dispatch center at 360-740-1105. Our headquarters fire station can be reached at (360) 736-3975. pic.twitter.com/3Gw7FZikBs
— Centralia Fire/EMS (@RFA_PIO) December 28, 2018

King County said people could call the 10-digit number for local responders, and cell phone users could also text 911 in an emergency.

Here’s the list of alternate numbers for emergency responders:

Seattle

206-583-2111 or 206-625-5011

Bellevue, Clyde Hill, Kirkland, Medina, Mercer Island, Normandy Park

425-577-5656

Algona, Auburn, Black Diamond, Des Moines, Federal Way, Kent, Pacific, Renton, Tukwila

253-852-2121

Beaux Arts Village, Burien, Carnation, Covington, Kenmore, King County International Airport, Maple Valley, Metro Transit Police, Muckleshoot Tribe, Newcastle, Sammamish, SeaTac, Shoreline, Skykomish, Sound Transit Police, Woodinville, Vashon Island

206-296-3311

Issaquah, North Bend, Snoqualmie

425-837-3200

King County Sheriff/Unincorporated King County

206-296-3311

University of Washington Police

206-685-8973

Enumclaw

360-825-3505

Bothell, Lake Forest Park

425-486-1254

Sea-Tac Airport/Port of Seattle

206-787-5401

Redmond, Duvall

425-556-2500

Washington State Patrol

425-401-7788

Pierce County

253-798-4722

Tacoma

253-798-4722

Fircrest, Fife

253-627-0151

Kitsap County

360-308-5400

Snohomish County

425-407-3999

Skagit County

360-428-3211

0642---911 lines are down again!! Please share !!! Statewide 911 Outage Continues

Please call our non-emergency numbers. Following numbers come into our dispatch center: 360 426 4441/3302/4442, MCSO Shelton: 360 427 9670 ext. 226/227, Belfair MCSO: 360 277 5080 pic.twitter.com/NlLrWRtZXl
— Mason County Sheriff (@MasonCoSheriff) December 28, 2018

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Gil Aegerter
Gil edits feature pieces and helps guide staff reporters through their stories. He previously served as interim digital director and online managing editor at KUOW. Before that he spent seven years with NBCNews.com, where he was variously a senior editor, editor-producer and features editor. He also worked 25 years as a newspaper editor in Anchorage, Alaska, San Diego, Wilmington, N.C., and Seattle. He also was a freelance researcher for NBC Olympics for the Games in Atlanta; Sydney, Australia; Salt Lake City; Athens; and Torino, Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, with a degree in photojournalism.
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