Outage Friday morning left many first responders scrambling. Here's the problem they had

Hannah Morse, The Patriot Ledger

Parts of the Massachusetts State 911 was down for roughly an hour Friday morning, according to social media posts by local emergency responders across the state, including Plymouth and Norwell.

The cause was a network issue with a State 911 Department data center, according to a department spokesperson. This led to about one-quarter of the state's 206 "public safety answering points" experiencing issues with telecommunicator workstations.

Police and fire departments had posted about intermittent or sporadic outages where only some calls would go through around 10:15 a.m. Some first responders reported that the system was back online by 11:30 a.m.

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Until that happened, local first responders were asking that anyone with an emergency contact the relative department's main line.

The Massachusetts 911 emergency system is managed and operated by the State 911 Department. The state uses Next Generation 911, which has "several redundancies to reroute a 911 call" so that it reaches a telecommunicator, the spokesperson said.

Who to call if 911 is down on the South Shore

Always call 911 first in an emergency. During this recent statewide outage, some South Shore first responders offered residents alternative phone numbers to contact if their emergency calls were not going through.

The Patriot Ledger compiled a list of phone numbers for the main office or dispatchers of South Shore police and fire departments. These are non-emergency lines and, again, 911 should always be dialed first in an emergency.

Police

  • Abington police: 781-878-3232

  • Braintree police: 781-843-1212

  • Carver police: 508-866-2000

  • Cohasset police: 781-383-1212 or 781-383-1055

  • Duxbury police: 781-934-5656

  • Hanover police: 781-826-2335

  • Hanson police: 781-293-4625

  • Hingham police: 781-749-1212

  • Hull police: 781-925-1212

  • Kingston police: 781-585-0523

  • Marshfield police: 781-834-6655

  • Milton police: 617-698-3800

  • Norwell police: 781-659-7979 ext. 9

  • Pembroke police: 781-293-6363

  • Plymouth police: 508-746-1212

  • Quincy police: 617-479-1212

  • Randolph police: 781-963-1212

  • Rockland police: 781-871-3890

  • Scituate police: 781-545-1212

  • Weymouth police: 781-335-1212

  • Whitman police: 781-447-1212

Fire

  • Abington fire: 781-982-2117

  • Braintree fire: 781-843-3600

  • Carver fire: 508-866-3440

  • Cohasset fire: 781-383-0616

  • Duxbury fire: 781-934-5693

  • Hanover fire: 781-826-3151

  • Hanson fire: 781-293-9571

  • Hingham fire: 781-741-1416

  • Hull fire: 781-925-8111

  • Kingston fire: 781-585-0532

  • Marshfield fire: 781-837-1315

  • Milton fire: 617-898-4901

  • Norwell fire: 781-659-8158

  • Pembroke Fire: 781-293-2300

  • Plymouth fire: 508-746-2211

  • Quincy fire: 617-376-1040

  • Randolph fire: 781-961-0991 or 781-961-0992 or 781-963-3131

  • Rockland fire: 781-878-2123

  • Scituate fire: 781-545-5515

  • Weymouth fire: 781-337-5151

  • Whitman fire: 781-447-7626

Another phone number for Cohasset, Hingham, Hull and Norwell police or fire emergencies: South Shore Regional Emergency Communication Center, 781-740-0270.

Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Massachusetts State 911 outage impacts towns across state

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