Backups In Place To Handle 911 System Failures, Other Issues

ST. CLOUD -- After a temporary outage affected 911 systems across the state Wednesday, local agencies say don't be alarmed when these incidents happen.

Stearns County Chief Deputy Jon Lentz says there are protocols in place to help manage these situations.

We do, as required by the state, maintain a Continuity of Operations Plan. That plan analyzes potential issues we could have at a dispatch center, and come up with a backup plan in case a problem ever surfaces.

Lentz says situations like Wednesday are rare, but if the 911 systems are ever down, they do have other non-emergency lines you can call (St. Cloud Police Department, Stearns County Sheriff's Office).

He says the use of social media (Twitter, Facebook) can also provide quick up to date information.

When you add other social media platforms to that, it increase the audience. Certainly our partners in the media help spread that message as well.

CenturyLink Spokesman Frank Tutalo says a third-party vendor working on the 911 systems caused the widespread failure.

Lentz says preliminary reports says they had about 29 missed calls during the hour-long outage.

The Associated Press helped contribute to this story.