911 calls are failing for some phone users in Oakland, Riverside County and Santa Barbara County, and no one has said yet what caused it or when it ends.
Emergency calling problems hit at least three parts of California on Thursday. Oakland, Riverside County (east of Los Angeles) and Santa Barbara County on the central coast all reported trouble with 911. In some places, a call from a cell phone may not connect. Officials have not said what caused it or how long it will last.
In Oakland, the police dispatch system froze and showed an error message around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. All 911 calls were sent to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Dispatchers moved to a local fire dispatch station. Oakland police said they are responding only to Priority One calls while the city's IT team works with AT&T to restore internet and phone services.
In Santa Barbara County, local outlet KEYT reported the problem appears to affect AT&T and T-Mobile customers. It is not clear whether other carriers are affected. Texting 911 does not appear to be hit. In Riverside County, the sheriff's office said some cellular users have trouble calling 911.
AT&T said damage to another provider's fiber, possibly linked to theft, is affecting 911 call routing for some of its mobile customers in the Los Angeles area. Fiber is the cable that carries calls and data. It is unclear if that is related to the Oakland problem, which is about 400 miles north.
Some people online have wondered about a link to "Black October," a name in the security world for software flaws found this week in a programming language called PHP. Cloudflare's CEO said there have been "millions" of attempts to exploit those flaws. Nothing in the reports connects them to the 911 problems. T-Mobile had not responded to questions.
The biggest risk is for cell phone users in these areas, especially AT&T and T-Mobile customers in Santa Barbara County. Visitors count too. The Riverside County sheriff's office said the outage is on the cell provider's network, not its own side. It said some people can still dial 911 there and that its law enforcement phone systems work normally. So the problem is patchy, not total.
The alert box above lists the backup numbers and the text option. Save the one for your area now, before you need it.
One request from officials matters for everyone. Do not call 911 to see if it works. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office said that even if a call does not connect, dispatchers may still get your number and must call you back. Those callbacks take time away from real emergencies.
Watch for updates from your local police or sheriff, usually posted on Facebook or their websites. AT&T said restoration work continues. Officials have not given a timeline. If you are outside these three areas, the reports so far do not point to a problem for you.
If you are in Oakland, Riverside County or Santa Barbara County, save your backup number, try texting if a call fails, and never test 911.
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