In 'catastrophic failure' Fla. 911 misses 300 calls

By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — When you call 911, you expect an answer.

But some Seminole County residents who called the emergency system Thursday morning didn't get one. Instead they got a ringing phone, or silence, or a message saying 911 wasn't available.

"My wife comes out and says no one will answer 911," said Frank Kirk, a retired fire chief who ended up putting out a blaze in his neighbor's garage in Fern Park.

About 300 calls, in 102 separate incidents, did not get through when the 911 system underwent what a county spokeswoman called "a catastrophic failure." Officials were still investigating the cause late Thursday afternoon.

The system failed at 8:30 a.m. It took 40 minutes to reroute calls to Orange County and Lake Mary. The system was fixed at about 11 a.m.

Seminole County tracked down those callers later in the day with AT&T's help. Seminole County deputies either visited in person or followed up by phone. Officials said none of the missed calls resulted in death or serious injury.

"There were no persons put in significant danger," county spokeswoman Susan Vernon-Devlin said. "Nobody died while the 911 system was down... Everybody is safe."

Incidents that people were trying to report included traffic accidents and burglaries, she said.

The problem started about 8:30 a.m. after a power surge in a building shared by the Sheriff's Office and Department of Public Safety.

It took about 40 minutes for a backup system designed to route 911 calls to Orange County to kick in. Vernon-Devlin said the system was not set up to automatically transfer the calls, and a computer had to be programmed.

The county got information out about the 911 problem using weather radios and the media, Vernon-Devlin said. An alternate number was given out to the public.

Some people who got the information then tried dialing 911 to test it, Vernon-Devlin said. Those were among the 300 calls that did not get through.

The ability to receive 911 calls was restored three or four times within 30 minutes, but each time was lost after a short time, said Capt. Dennis Lemma, a sheriff's spokesman.

"The circuit breakers kept tripping back," Vernon-Devlin said.

Kirk, who put out his neighbor's house fire, is also the former 911 coordinator for Seminole County and now works as a consultant. He said that 911 failures, while rare, have happened in other spots around the country.

Kirk, his wife and Bill Sweet, whose house was on fire, tried calling for help at least 10 times. Kirk unsuccessfully tried calling other Seminole emergency officials but wasn't able to reach anyone. One call was transferred to Orange County.

It took about a half-hour for firefighters to arrive.

By the time they got there, the fire was already extinguished.