Bell Aliant blames 911 failure across Maritimes on software upgrade
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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Bell Aliant says a software program replace is responsible for the 911 system failing for greater than two hours on Jan. 31.
Clients couldn’t entry the 911 system from landlines in P.E.I., New Brunswick and Nova Scotia from 6 a.m. to eight:30 a.m.
“The foundation trigger was a software program replace launched at roughly 6 a.m. in preparation for 10-digit dialling for New Brunswick,’’ Katie Hatfield, a communications officer with Bell Aliant advised SaltWire Community on Jan. 31. “It triggered surprising name processing failures to 911. All different forms of calls have been unaffected.’’
Hatfield stated the 911 system did work for all wi-fi gadgets throughout that time period.
“As soon as we realized the problem we labored to roll again the replace to revive providers as rapidly as potential,’’ Hatfield added.
When the system went down for landlines, the RCMP in Nova Scotia issued an emergency alert whereas the RCMP in P.E.I. issued an advisory.
RCMP in P.E.I. suggested the general public to contact emergency providers reminiscent of police, fireplace and ambulance immediately. All detachment numbers have been despatched in a press launch together with contact numbers for municipal police companies.
The Nova Scotia Emergency Measures Group suggested individuals on social media when the issue had been fastened.
SaltWire Community tried to contact Tanya Mullally, the province’s emergency administration co-ordinator with the Emergency Measures Group, however she was not made accessible for remark.
Medavie Well being Companies in Nova Scotia, which runs the Island EMS service, deferred calls to the P.E.I. Workplace of Public Security.
This newspaper contacted Pat Kelly with the P.E.I. Workplace of Public Security however there was no response by deadline.
Hatfield stated outages pertaining to 911 are uncommon and the incident on Jan. 31 is receiving the total consideration of the corporate’s engineering groups.
“We’ve got adjusted our processes and safeguards to make sure that this sort of subject won’t occur once more, together with adjusting our check plans for future updates. The present subject was an remoted incident.’’
Must know
Native numbers to succeed in police throughout P.E.I.:
• Queens District RCMP: 902-368-9300
• East Prince RCMP: 902-436-9300
• West Prince RCMP: 902-853-9300
• Montague RCMP: 902-838-9300
• Souris RCMP: 902-687-9300
• Charlottetown Police Companies: 902-629-4172
• Summerside Police Division: 902-432-1201
• Kensington Police Division: 902-836-3781
Dave Stewart is a reporter with SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. He may be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @DveStewart