CHAMPAIGN, IL (CHAMBANA TODAY) — Last night Champaign residents were alerted via METCAD text message that both the 9-1-1 emergency line and the nonemergency line were not in operation.
The message read “MEDCAD 9-1-1 is currently not able to receive calls on the 9-1-1 emergency line or the nonemergency line. Text-to-911 is working. The status will be updated as more information is known. Monitor media for updates.”
METCAD’s Deputy Director, Jeff Wooten, says the outage was a result of AT&T’s nationwide infostructure, with Champaign being one of a handful of counties including Belleville, Centralia, Fulton County, Vermilion County, Peoria, and Salem whose emergency phone systems were down.
At 7:53 PM on March 7, 2024, METCAD was notified by an automated AT&T notification that both 9-1-1 circuits serving the METCAD 9-1-1 center were not working. METCAD staff verified that both the 9-1-1 and non-emergency phone lines were not functioning and immediately initiated METCAD’s emergency outage plan, which includes transferring its 9-1-1 lines to Vermilion County 9-1-1.
However, in yesterday’s outage, Vermilion County’s 9-1-1 system was also affected. METCAD then contacted the Macon County 9-1-1 Center to verify their services were not impacted, and then AT&T transferred METCAD’s 9-1-1 lines to Macon County’s facility at approximately 8:40 PM. Macon County 9-1-1 staff then relayed details of Champaign County’s 9-1-1 calls they received to METCAD for local dispatching.
Once AT&T resolved the issue, AT&T rerouted Champaign County’s 9-1-1 calls back to METCAD at approximately 9:25 PM. AT&T is still investigating the root cause of the service outage, but they did indicate that it was something within their infrastructure that failed. The Statewide 9-1-1 Administrator and the FCC are also looking into this matter.