911 services restored in the Coachella Valley after a nearly 24-hour disruption
Update Nov. 10
News Channel 3 has obtained new information regarding the possible cause of the most recent 9-1-1 phone line outage.
On November 8, 2023, at 10:59 p.m., a report was received regarding theft of wire and fiber in the area of Whitewater north of Interstate 10, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Update 3:50 p.m.
9-1-1 services are back up in the Coachella Valley.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office, along with police departments in Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Indio, and Desert Hot Springs confirmed 9-1-1 issues have been resolved.
"Within the last few minutes, AT&T notified us that the communication problems have been resolved. A test of an AT&T cell phone worked while trying to establish a connection to our dispatch via 911. We have updated our status on social media to show that we are requesting all emergency calls go to 911 at this time."
- PSPD
9-1-1 is back up for our East County residents! Thank you for your patience.
— Riverside County Sheriff (@RSO) November 9, 2023
District 4 County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez provided a statement on the issue:
“Unfortunately, we experienced interruptions in our 911 system in eastern Riverside County yesterday. Interruptions for some cell phone carriers continued into today. As of 3:30 p.m. today, 911 is fully restored for all residents and cell phone carriers.
The county has sent out two AlertRivCo messages to inform residents about the outage and the Sheriff’s Office has posted messages on the department’s social media accounts.There are active investigations into how the interruptions occurred and what solutions are needed to prevent further outages. Please follow up with the Sheriff’s Office for more information.”
Original Report:
9-1-1 emergency telephone lines remained offline throughout the Coachella Valley Thursday morning.
According to the Cathedral City Police Department, they were alerted at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday that all wireless and landline 911 lines were down.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office advised residents to call 951-776-1278 if they have an emergency.
Attention East County Residents- 9-1-1 is not available from a cell phone device- If you have an emergency please use the alternate phone number 951-776-1278
— Riverside County Sheriff (@RSO) November 9, 2023
Palm Springs Police Department said you can TEXT 9-1-1 or call 760-250-6268. A department post on social media also said, "Calls from landlines ARE working."
Palm Springs Police Department said it conducted its own testing Thursday morning with dispatch, and confirmed the following:
- Landline phones are working to call 911.
- Verizon cell phones can call 911.
- T-Mobile cell phones can call 911.
- AT&T cell phones are NOT able to call 911 in the city.
Cathedral City Police shared the number (760)770-0303.
Indio Police asked residents to call 760-391-4051.
Desert Hot Springs PD: (760) 894-3777 or you may also connect directly to 911 Dispatchers by calling (760) 329-2904 ext. 2.
There was no word on how long this outage could last. The same services also failed during Tropical Storm Hilary in August.
Statement from Verizon rep on 911 outage:
"Verizon takes customer safety very seriously. Our wireless customers in parts of Eastern Riverside County are able to dial and connect to 911 services. We are aware of a fiber cut that is impacting the ability of the Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) in the area to provide Automatic Location Information and Automatic Number Identification (ALI/ANI) data. Our engineers are working with the fiber provider to fully restore service as quickly as possible. Again, customers in the impacted areas are still able to complete 911 calls."
Statement from AT&T on 911 outage:
"Our understanding is Frontier, who provides service locally, may have an outage affecting several companies. We recommend you reach out to Frontier for a statement. If you need anything from AT&T, please let me know."
We have reached out to Frontier for a statement on the outage but have not heard back as of Thursday at 2:15 p.m.
Stay with KESQ News Channel 3 for updates as we get them.
