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Mar 20, 2008 11:00 pm US/Eastern
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Officials Probe Failure In Montco. 911 System
EAGLEVILLE, Pa. (CBS 3) ―
Montgomery County officials are investigating a major failure in the county's "911" system.
Dozens of callers were unable to reach the emergency dispatch center for hours after utility crews damaged an underground cable.
Callers who dialed 911 last Thursday, and again on Sunday, didn't reach a dispatcher, instead they only got a busy signal after officials say a Verizon contractor at an excavation site severed an underground cable.
"I personally think this was very serious because calls to 911 were not getting through, now the person making the call does not know why and he does not care why," said County Commissioner Bruce Castor.
Officials say 911 calls were disrupted for hours --- 14 calls did not get through on Thursday and another 32 calls did not get through on Sunday.
Fortunately, officials say there were no life and death emergencies.
"We were fortunate in this case that there were no calls that were extreme emergency nature," said Public Safety Director Thomas Sullivan.
Officials say dispatchers on both days had no idea that dozens of callers were trying to reach them because Verizon did not immediately notify them that there was a serious problem.
"We were not advised of this blockage for about an hour and half to two hours and we were quite fortunate," said County Commissioner James Matthews.
Once they learned of the problem, dispatchers raced to a fully equipped back-up center to resume communications on both occasions.
Verizon officials told CBS 3 they are very concerned about the two incidents and may have more to say after they complete a thorough investigation.
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