By Bill Miller
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
Copyright 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
DALLAS — The 911 emergency call system was down for about seven minutes early Tuesday in Dallas, prompting firefighters to patrol the streets for possible emergencies, according to reports.
Officials noticed the gap at about 6:22 a.m., said Ken Moore, who manages the 911 center for Dallas police and firefighters.
That’s when they realized the center wasn’t getting any calls after having just completed an early-morning project to replace a switch on the system, Moore said.
The maintenance project began around 1:45 a.m. and the center operated on a backup system until the work was completed at 6:15 a.m., Moore said.
The staff then switched back to the regular system, but then noticed seven minutes later that the center wasn’t receiving any calls, Moore said.
Officials returned to the backup system.
“Then we worked to get the switch back up again,” Moore said. “Any time we realized we’re not getting calls we put the fire department out patrolling. The police department was already patrolling.”
The 911 system was working normally at about 6:50 a.m., Moore said. There was no immediate information on any emergencies that might have occurred during the seven-minute gap.