Phone lines restored at Boone County Joint Communications

Some of the Boone County Joint Communications’ phones are once more operable after problems with the county’s phone service provider.

Boone County Joint Communications experienced a 911 outage at around 3:00 p.m. Thursday after an issue with CenturyLink. Joint Communications Director Chad Martin said technicians worked from CenturyLink’s downtown office to fix the problem, getting the affected lines up and running just after 7 p.m. Thursday night.

“We’re trying to work with CenturyLink right now to determine how many calls that came through that might have been missed in that time frame,” Martin told ABC 17 News in an interview. “We’re reliant upon them to give us that information.”

Martin said dispatchers noticed the outage when others called the center complaining of long wait times when trying to call 9-1-1. Officials there notified first responders, including police, fire, and EMS, and asked them to keep people at their buildings in case people reported emergencies there.

Deputy Director Joe Piper said Joint Communications had the phone company reroute 911 calls to its non-emergency number. At around 3:45, Piper said it appeared 911 calls were coming through again, but the cause of the outage still had not been identified.

Martin said county IT staff will stay at the dispatch center in downtown Columbia to monitor the system, and ensure it continues to work properly.

A CenturyLink spokesperson only described the problem as “technical issues.”