Here Are the States 911 Is Impacted Due to the Microsoft Outage—And What to Do
A worldwide technology shortage impacted 911 services in at least three U.S. states Friday morning.
A worldwide Microsoft outage impacted 911 services in at least three U.S. states Friday, as hospitals and government agencies still recover from the outage’s impacts.
Alaska, Arizona, and Oregon all reported disruptions to their emergency systems, though some are already reporting improvements.
“My team is closely monitoring all services that have been impacted and is working to ensure that we continue delivering the critical services that Arizonans rely on,” said Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on X Friday morning. “As we work to address the problem, there may be delays with certain services. I will continue to keep Arizonans updated as we receive new information.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The outage caused companies relying on Microsoft’s Windows system, including airlines and banks, to pause their work because of a faulty update by Crowdstrike, a partner of Microsoft. Non-emergency operations were suspended across numerous hospital systems and local TV channels temporarily paused their shows on Friday.
Emergency calls to the 911 dispatch center throughout Alaska were down but returned as of 4:23 a.m. local time, the Alaska State Troopers said via Facebook. The State Troopers also shared alternative phone numbers that could be called based on residents’ location in Alaska.
In Phoenix, local police noted that their computerized 911 dispatch center was down, but the 911 call line was still operational. Systems were confirmed to be restored by 8:49 a.m. E.T., but Phoenix Police asked people who were seeking “non-emergency police assistance during the outage” to remain patient as officials worked through the calls.
Across Oregon, 911 calls were still functioning, though the Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC), tells TIME that there were some reports of issues with their Mobile Data Terminals and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems. Workers were able to manually take calls, however.
“I am grateful to the Bureau of Emergency Management and Bureau of Technology Services staff who quickly responded to the outage to help ensure continuation of critical city services,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler in a press release. “I am continuing to receive regular updates and we are closely monitoring the situation.”
In cases where 911 does not seem to be working, residents should check their local police, fire, or emergency management organizations social media pages or websites to find local emergency numbers.
“We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies,” said CrowdStrike CEO on Friday. “That update had a software bug in it and caused an issue with the Microsoft operating system…we identified this very quickly and remediated the issue.”