Overnight Telus outage disrupts Thompson-Okanagan 911 service

A Telus service outage Thursday night meant 911 calls couldn't get through to at least some dispatchers in the Southern BC Interior. Kamloops Fire Rescue was alerted by BC Ambulance Service just before midnight on March 21, when dispatchers for paramedics asked if they were getting 911 calls. Kristina Bradley, the fire department's communications lead, said they tested their service and found it wasn't working. There is no indication the department missed any emergency calls, and they were able to get an alternative connection with local dispatchers. Bradley said they weren't warned of an outage on the Telus system, which appears to have been planned. Telus has not responded to a request for comment, nor has BC Ambulance Service. Bradley said it was around 12:15 a.m. that an alternative 911 connection was made with support from E-Comm 911, but it wasn't until 3 a.m. that the Telus system was back online. The outage affected service across the Southern Interior, along with a few communities in Northern BC, according to RCMP. BC RCMP spokesperson Cpl. James Grandy said it was non-emergency calls that were disrupted, but they were rerouted to call takers in Prince George. To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry mailto:llandry@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .