Emergency 911 Outage
Widespread 911 Outages Disrupt Emergency Services Across Multiple States; Officials Advise Alternate Contacts
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Key Points
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Outage reports began Monday evening, and Downdetector’s user reports also showed problems with 911 as officials in multiple states reported disruptions.
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In Pima County, the Sheriff’s Department said, “The Pima County Sheriff’s Department says the 911 Communications Center is currently being affected by a statewide 911 network outage,” emphasizing the communications center was impacted by a statewide issue rather than a local glitch.
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Pima County officials later announced the outage was resolved at approximately 5 p.m. local time.
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Tucson police specifically cautioned that its police 911 services were “fully operational,” advising callers who reached police 911 to “remain on the line and not hang up.”
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In Washington, officials including Benton County Emergency Services and the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said the state’s 911 service provider was experiencing technical difficulties; they also noted additional affected counties such as Kitsap and Adams, and urged residents to call dispatch directly if they could not reach 911.
Emergency 911 systems failed across at least four states on Monday, June 15, leaving millions of residents unable to reach help. Washington, Arizona, Texas, and Iowa all reported disruptions, with outage-tracking site Downdetector logging widespread user complaints starting around 2:30 p.m. AOL News.
The cause was not immediately clear. Officials urged residents to call local dispatch lines directly while technicians worked to restore service. Most affected areas saw service return by early evening, but federal authorities were still monitoring for intermittent failures the following morning The Mirror.
Counties Go Dark as 911 Calls Fail to Connect
In Washington state, multiple counties reported simultaneous failures. Whatcom County issued a public safety alert to cell phones at 2:45 p.m., directing residents to call the backup line at 360-676-6911 KING5. Benton County Emergency Services and the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office also confirmed problems, adding that Kitsap and Adams counties were affected too.
The Kittitas County Sheriff's Office said the state's 911 service provider was having technical difficulties. Residents who could not reach 911 were told to call the Kittcom non-emergency line at 509-925-8534 directly Head Topics. Whatcom County restored full service by 5:55 p.m.
Arizona Declares Statewide Network Outage, Then Resolves It
Pima County was among the hardest hit in Arizona. The Pima County Sheriff's Department said its communications center was "currently being affected by a statewide 911 network outage" and directed residents to the non-emergency line at 520-351-4900 Tucson.com. Sheriff Chris Nanos posted the alert directly on X.
Tucson police clarified that its own police 911 line was "fully operational." It warned callers to "remain on the line and not hang up" if they got through Tucson.com. Pima County officials announced the statewide issue was resolved at approximately 5:00 p.m. local time. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said her administration was "actively engaged with local and county agencies to address the problem" AOL News.
Aging 911 Infrastructure Has Been Breaking Down for Years
Monday's outage is not an isolated event. A 2025–2026 industry report found that 88% of emergency call centers experienced at least one technical outage in the past 12 months, up from 75% the year before The Mirror. Carbyne CEO Amir Elichai has warned that the "fragility of current emergency communications infrastructure is putting lives at risk."
The U.S. is in the middle of a slow, uneven shift from old phone-based 911 routing to a newer internet-based system called Next Generation 911, or NG911. Experts say the transition creates weak points where old and new systems connect. In April 2024, a contractor accidentally cut a fiber line while installing a light pole, knocking out 911 across South Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, and Texas AOL News.
FCC Oversight and the Cost of Failure
Under FCC rules, service providers must file a preliminary outage report within 120 minutes for most 911 failures. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said he is focused on "strengthening communications" and "advancing initiatives for a safer future," but specific comments on the June 15 cause are pending a formal filing The Mirror.
The FCC fined CenturyLink $16 million in 2014 and Charter Communications $15 million in 2025 for preventable outages. Initial indicators suggest the June 15 failure may involve a provider in the Lumen Technologies network, which holds 911 contracts in Arizona, Iowa, and Washington, but officials have not confirmed that. The combined population of the affected jurisdictions is roughly 1.6 million people AOL News.
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