Tag: Emergency Services

911 Outages Disrupt Emergency Communications In Berkeley County

911 lines were experiencing a temporary outage in Berkeley County, W.Va., leaving residents unable to contact county-level emergency services.

Updated on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024 at 12 p.m.

Emergency 911 lines in Berkeley County temporarily went down Wednesday morning, leaving residents unable to contact county emergency services.

The first alert was issued at 11:10 a.m. via Berkeley County’s text message alert system. 

News of the outage was then shared on various county social media pages, including the official Facebook page of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department.

For less than an hour, residents were unable to use county emergency lines or non-emergency lines linked to the Berkeley County Department of Emergency Communications.

“[Emergency officials] are working to resolve this issue,” stated the post on Facebook prior to the restoration. “Please contact your local fire, police, or EMS in the event of an emergency. We will update as soon as the lines are back up. Law enforcement can be reached at the following numbers: Berkeley County Sheriff’s Dept. 304-267-7000, Martinsburg City Police 304-264-2100 [and] West Virginia State Police 304-267-0000.”

In November, similar outages in other West Virginia counties left residents unable to contact emergency services for up to 10 hours cumulatively.

Vandalism And Wintry Weather Knock Out Phone Service To Emergency Centers In W.Va.

Phone service was knocked out to emergency call centers for several hours in numerous West Virginia counties on Tuesday. Residents in some counties were advised to use alternative business numbers to call during the 911 outage.

Phone service was knocked out to emergency call centers for several hours in numerous West Virginia counties on Tuesday, officials said.

Residents in some counties were advised to use alternative business numbers to call during the 911 outage.

Frontier Communications spokesperson Chrissy Murray said its fiber optic lines experienced two cuts in northern West Virginia, one involving copper vandalism and the other due to damage related to a winter storm.

“The combination of the cuts is what caused the 911 service issue but we worked quickly to restore so that all of our customers had access to emergency services,” Murray said in a statement.

Frontier is planning to offer up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the copper theft, Murray said, adding that tips should be called in to Frontier and local law enforcement.

While 911 calls were going through Tuesday evening in Kanawha County in the state capital of Charleston, the county sheriff’s office said other phone issues remained unresolved. The problem typically involved calls between Frontier landlines and another carrier’s cell phones. Some callers were experiencing busy signals or no response when dialing the sheriff’s office and other places, the office said in a news release.

The office advised callers to reach it using a landline until the issue is resolved.

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