EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — 28/22 News has spoken to multiple 911 communication centers across Pennsylvania which are all expressing issues due to Thursday’s storm. What’s the best way for you to reach them?

Communication centers throughout Pennsylvania use Version Fiber Optic as their main communication method.

East Central Emergency Network Deputy Director Alex Karpinski stated Thursday that Verizon had experienced a widespread outage that impacted and continues to affect 911 in several counties.

Below is a list of the following 911 communication centers that have similar/separate issues and what to do when trying to reach them:

Luzerne/Lackawanna – GPS services are down, so they don’t know who you are or where you’re calling from. They are asking residents to be patient as they may ask for more information.

Bradford – Landline 911 calls are not working they ask residents to use the Non-Emergency number at 570-265-9101. However, cell phone users can get through.

Lycoming – Sporadically receiving calls.

Sullivan – Verizon issues, they ask you to call the local fire department if you can’t get through 

Susquehanna – GPS Services are down. Officials their figured out a solution to re-route 911 calls to a 10-digit line in their comm center. 

Union – No Verizon calls are coming through they ask as well to call the local fire department or text 911.

Wayne – Calls are being re-routed to another call center because they had issues with Verizon and AT&T. They ask residents to call 570-253-8896 if they can’t get through.

Wyoming – Landlines not coming through, call 570-836-8682  if you can’t get through, cell phones seem to be working fine. 

The following counties 28/22 News were not able to reach due to their services being down.

  • Clinton
  • Columbia 
  • Northumberland
  • Snyder

Andrew Testa who is part of Verizon Corporate Communications released a statement regarding the incident:

During last Thursday’s storms, a tree fell on power lines causing extensive damage to fiber optic cables carrying landline traffic. This caused a disruption to landline service for some customers in Harrisburg and other areas.

Once the fire was extinguished, our engineers worked to repair the fiber. Service has been fully restored.

Andrew Testa, Corpoarte Communications member of Verizon

Officials note that all cellphone users can text 911 for all communication centers if they are having an emergency.