Explanation about 911 Service Interruption Saturday Afternoon

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

From a message sent to the neighborhood listservs:

911 Service Interruption

This afternoon at 1:53 p.m. 911 service was interrupted. Service was restored at 2:16 p.m. It appears there was a PEPCO feeder problem that resulted in multiple electrical surges that knocked out power to the Unified Communications Center (UCC) on Martin Luther King Ave., SE., and the surrounding area. The multiple electric surges in a concentrated time period also affected UCC’s ability to switch to its on site backup generator. Staff from UCC were dispatched to the off site emergency operations center where 911 services were restored. From 1:53 to 2:16 UCC implemented it’s emergency protocols and switched to receiving and dispatching emergency calls from the Metropolitan Police Department Command Information Center (CIC). During this time period we were able to communicate with Police and Fire units to respond to emergencies.

UCC staff members will remain at the emergency operations center where they have full access to the 911 and 311 systems until we are confident that all power issues have been resolved. We apologize for the disruption in service to this critical emergency service. We will continue working with PEPCO to ensure uninterrupted service to our residents and visitors.