Company with $36 million SD 911 contract says outage caused by Missouri
A 911 outage affecting hundreds of calls for emergency services throughout South Dakota and beyond on Wednesday night
formerly known as CenturyLink and headquartered in Louisiana, said the outage was caused by a third party but did not offer any further explanation
The outage included 911 services in South Dakota, Nebraska and Nevada. Another 911 service outage was reported in Texas, but Lumen said it does not provide 911 service there.
This is at least the second time there’s been a 911 service outage through Lumen in South Dakota this year
South Dakota signed its contract with Lumen for “Next Generation 911 services” in 2019 and has since renewed the contract until 2029.
The FCC posted on X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday night that it was investigating the most recent outages.
The Wednesday outage began around 8 p.m. Central time and service was restored by 11 p.m., according to the state Department of Public Safety
The outage forced public safety officials and dispatchers to quickly change how they responded to incoming calls for service across the state.
Sioux Falls Fire Assistant Chief Mike Gramlick said in a news conference Thursday the city had never experienced an outage of “this magnitude or duration.”