Washington Co. 911 Experiences Brief Tech Snafu

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) -- Emergency calls to the Washington County Communications Center were briefly diverted to backup lines instead of the main lines.

The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown reports that callers dialing 911 were told for a period Friday afternoon to call another number if they could not get through. The county issued the advisory after staff noticed that 911 calls were being routed to backup lines.

The deputy director of operations at the communications center, Alan Crawford, says the problem lasted for about 45 minutes. He says he doesn't believe any emergency calls were held up.

A Verizon spokeswoman tells the newspaper that the services at the center seemed to have worked as designed. She says the company, which operates the phone system, will look into what happened.

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