Latest news with #PEMA
CBS News
22-07-2025
- CBS News
Pennsylvania 911 outage was caused by operating system issue, not cyberattack, preliminary report says
The Pennsylvania 911 call system outage earlier this month was caused by a technical issue, not a cyberattack, according to a preliminary report. People calling 911 in Pennsylvania experienced intermittent disruptions on July 12. The update Tuesday from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency says the problem stemmed from an operating system issue with Next Generation 911, which processes and routes 911 calls from phones to 911 centers. "As soon as the intermittent outages started, our vendors and partner public safety organizations began to investigate the cause and take steps to resolve the issue," said Jeff Boyle, PEMA's executive deputy director. "We activated the Emergency Alert System and issued Wireless Emergency Alerts as a precautionary measure to notify everyone in Pennsylvania of the issue and to follow county-based back up plans should they not be able to reach the 911 centers by calling the traditional three-digit phone number." When people call 911 in Pennsylvania, their calls first go to a data processing center, where Next Generation Core Services determines their location and sends the call to the proper local 911 call center, according to the update. Officials are working on a more detailed analysis of the incident and plans to improve the system, the update says. "Our team got on it immediately yesterday, restored 911 capabilities relatively quickly and also put out guidance on what folks should do in that interim, I thought they handled it really well, they worked closely with our county officials," Gov. Josh Shapiro said at the time. The agency suggests residents save the phone number for their county's non-emergency 911 line in their phones in case of another disruption. Those numbers are available here.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania officials report they have fixed the statewide 911 disruption
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency reported that 911 services have been restored in the commonwealth, though the cause is still under investigation. The statewide NextGen 911, which provides the network services for the commonwealth, detected a situation around 2 p.m. Friday where calls were intermittently failing to be delivered, according to Randy Padfield, director of Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. This was originally detected with calls going into the Delaware County 911 call center. PEMA officials said they worked late into the night with county 911 offices and tech experts "to restore this critical emergency service to its full capacity." "We worked with counties to fully test that the system is operational," PEMA officials said on its Facebook page. "Please do not call 911 for testing purposes; leave lines open for true emergencies." Bob Dowd, director of the Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services, said that all 911 call delivery services to Lebanon County have been restored as of 11 p.m. Friday evening. Padfield said the issue was "an anomaly" for officials that work with the NextGen 911 system, which he described as working flawlessly through issues that include severe weather events. "It could be a software issue, it could be a hardware issue," he said in a press conference Friday. "What we know is that it doesn't appear to be the result of a software update that was pushed, based on our communications with the Next Gen 911 service provider." PEMA reported that officials were still identifying the root cause of the issues with the system, and said they would update residents to a cause "as soon as we can." This is an ongoing story. Please check back for updates. Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ or on X at @DAMattToth. This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Pa officials restored 911 services after statewide intermittent outage
See - Sada Elbalad
12-07-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
Emergency 911 Systems Go down in Pennsylvania
Rana Atef On Friday, the state of Pennsylvania is racing to address an issue with its emergency 911 systems. The issue was reported via an emergency alert as a 'statewide intermittent 911 outage.' However, Randy Padfield, the state's Emergency Management Director, said it isn't an outage. According to CBS News Philadelphia, sources said that it's a third-party company IT issue. The company is contracted with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Padfield said it's too soon to identify the reasons behind the issue, expecting that it could be a software or hardware problem. "Pennsylvania is experiencing a statewide intermittent 911 outage. Individuals experiencing issues contacting 911 are asked to contact their local 911 Center on their non-Emergency lines,' the alert stated. "The system continues to have some intermittent connectivity issues at this point in time. They are still trying to troubleshoot," Padfield added. During his latest update, Padfield said it appeared that most 911 calls were going through, but he added that there were some 'intermittent issues' with the calls. "Individuals should continue to use 911, and if they would call 911 for an emergency and the call is not delivered, they should use the backup seven-digit administrative line or follow the instructions of their local 911 center or public safety answering point," said Padfield. 'We are on top of the issue and working to restore full service as quickly as possible,' Governor Josh Shapiro said in a statement on X. 'In the meantime — stay calm, follow the directions of PEMA and local authorities, and do not call 911 for any reason other than an emergency.' read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Arts & Culture Hawass Foundation Launches 1st Course to Teach Ancient Egyptian Language Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream
Fox News
12-07-2025
- General
- Fox News
Pennsylvania officials report intermittent failures in statewide 911 service
Pennsylvania officials reported statewide issues Friday with the state's 911 system. "Pennsylvania is experiencing a statewide intermittent 911 outage," the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) said in an alert Friday. "Individuals experiencing issues contacting 911 are asked to contact their local 911 center on their non-emergency lines. Check your (county's) social media and website for more information." Randy Padfield, director of PEMA, stressed at a news conference that the issues were intermittent and began around 2 p.m. when some calls failed to be delivered. PEMA's 911 team began investigating the issue immediately to "identify the root cause of the issue as a standard practice," Padfield said. A conference bridge line was established between all public safety answering points, he said. And because several counties were reporting the same issue and the cause hadn't been identified, "out of an abundance of caution, a statewide Wireless Emergency Alert and emergency alert System message was sent to the public to notify them of the intermittent issues," he said. "Currently, our teams are engaged with the public safety answering points or 911 centers and the Next Gen 911 service provider, monitoring the system, and the system continues to have some intermittent connectivity issues at this point in time," he said. "They are still trying to troubleshoot." He said while the cause has yet to be identified, the majority of calls are going through, and Pennsylvanians should continue to call 911 if they need help. If a call doesn't go through, "they should use the backup seven-digit administrative line or follow the instructions of their local 911 center or public safety answering point," he added. But he urged people not to call 911 just to test if it's working. "If they test the system and hang up on the system, that is considered an abandoned call," he explained. "The 911 centers have to go back and investigate that call. So, we ask for the public's cooperation. As we continue, we'll provide additional updates as they become available." He said there's a "tremendous" amount of redundancy built into the Next Gen 911 system. "We've seen it actually perform flawlessly for a lot of severe weather incidents where there are a lot of 911 calls coming into the system," Padfield said, adding that the situation is more of an "anomaly for us and for the Next Gen 911 service provider. "We want to resolve it in the shortest amount of time possible." Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on X Friday that he had been briefed by PEMA on the "intermittent 911 outage currently happening in some parts of Pennsylvania. We are on top of the issue and working to restore full service as quickly as possible. In the meantime — stay calm, follow the directions of PEMA and local authorities, and do not call 911 for any reason other than an emergency."
The Independent
12-07-2025
- The Independent
Pennsylvania reports ‘intermittent' 911 system outage
Pennsylvania 's emergency 911 system is experiencing intermittent connectivity issues across the state, affecting call reliability. The problem, initially reported as a 'statewide intermittent 911 outage,' was clarified by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) as not a full outage. PEMA Director Randy Padfield stated the cause is unknown but is not believed to be a cyberattack or software update, possibly a glitch or hardware failure. Residents are advised to continue using 911 for emergencies, but if calls fail, they should use backup non- emergency lines provided by their local 911 centers. While some counties reported a return to normal operations, PEMA and Governor Josh Shapiro are actively working to restore full service statewide.
