911 services are currently down in Dutchess County, New York. As of 3:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, reports on Downdetector indicated that the 911 lines are busy, with the outage believed to be caused by line damage according to early assessments.
In case of emergency, residents are advised to use the following alternative contact numbers:
- 845-486-6545
- 845-486-6546
- 845-486-6547
- 845-486-6548
Context of the Outage
This outage in Dutchess County comes just days after a similar situation affected parts of Pennsylvania. That temporary 911 system outage was resolved within hours, though investigations into the root cause continued as of the following Monday.
According to Jeff Robertson of Comtech Telecommunications, the state’s contracted 911 service provider, “A preliminary review found no indication that the incident was related to cybersecurity.” He added, “Once we isolated the issue, we immediately implemented updates and continued to verify full system functionality. A full root cause analysis is underway and will take several days to complete.”
Swift Response from Pennsylvania Authorities
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Director Randy Padfield stated in an interview, “From the moment we were notified of the outage, our staff continuously worked with our vendors and county 911 partners to restore full service to the system.” He emphasized, “The 911 system is the backbone of our emergency response system, and we will continue to ensure it is there when you need it.”
As efforts continue in Dutchess County to resolve the 911 outage, residents are encouraged to stay alert and utilize the provided contact numbers for emergencies. Updates will be shared as more information becomes available.