Pennsylvania is experiencing an intermittent statewide 911 outage on Friday, but individuals with an emergency in Centre County will still have their call answered, local emergency communications officials said.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency issued the alert at about 3:25 p.m. on Friday and advised anyone experiencing issues contacting 911 to call their local 911 center’s non-emergency line.
“We are working with technical experts to resolve the issue and restore service as quickly as possible,” PEMA wrote in a social media post. “Please only call 911 for true emergencies. Do not call just to check whether it is working.”
Centre County Emergency Communications, however, wrote in a Facebook post that it was still able to accept calls to 911.
“In Centre County, you can still call 911 in an emergency, as our phone system has rerouted calls to a different line to ensure we can receive them,” according to the post. “If you are having trouble getting through, please call our non-emergency line at 1-800-479-0050.
County officials also urged the public not to call 911 to test the number after receiving an uptick in calls from people without an emergency who were only checking if it was working.
The cause of the statewide outage was not immediately clear.
“We are on top of the issue and working to restore full service as quickly as possible,” Gov. Josh Shapiro wrote on social media after being briefed by PEMA. “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.”
