A little bit of irony. Workers installing a light pole in Kansas City, Missouri, cut into a fiber line, knocking out 911 service for emergency agencies in Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, and possibly several other states. The outage caused concern and even some panic in some cities that receive high call volumes such as Omaha and Las Vegas, though the outage only lasted a few hours. Issue with the 911- service in other states were apparently unrelated, however, some officials say they were distantly related to the incident in Kansas City.
Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association, said the outage highlights the importance of Congressional funding to update critical telecommunications services. He urged Congress to fund an upgraded system to better withstand disasters and cyberattacks. The irony of the whole incident is that it occurred in the middle of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.
