WEST MICHIGAN — For a few hours on January 10, calling 911 was not an option for West Michigan residents.
The interruption affected most counties on the state's west side, including Ottawa, Kent, Allegan, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Newaygo. Even the 911 line in Grand Rapids briefly dropped.
On Thursday, county dispatchers and 911 directors discussed the interruption, the technology that enabled them to still connect citizens with first responders, and strategies for future operations.
Pete McWatters, the executive director of Ottawa County Dispatch, said he knew something was wrong when Allegan County phoned, saying calls were coming to Allegan instead of Ottawa.
"They are our first overflow option," said McWatters. "So if we were really busy, that wouldn't be out of the norm. But we weren't extra busy, and they were receiving our phone calls."
The first thing he checked was the center's RapidSOS system, an intelligent safety platform that gives dispatchers access to data from mobile phones, connected cars, security sensors, and more.
RapidSOS runs parallel to the standard dispatch system, functioning as a potential back-up if the need arises, like it did on January 10.
Ottawa County's RapidSOS system showed several missed calls, said McWatters, meaning the phone lines were unusable.
"We knew we were totally down in terms of phone calls, we were not receiving any 911 calls, we don't know exactly where those calls were going that were supposed to go to us," said McWatters.
It wasn't an isolated incident. McWatters said the phone provider informed them the issue was statewide.
But thanks to RapidSOS, Ottawa County dispatchers were still collecting data on missed 911 calls. They were "on top of it", said McWatters, tracking down numbers and reaching out to everyone who dialed 911 until the outage was resolved an hour later.
The effects of the outage varied from county to county.
In Calhoun County, executive director Mike Armitage, said his county's dispatch was "dead in the water" when it came to picking up calls.
Dispatchers relied on RapidSOS to make contact with Calhoun County callers.
"911 when operating as normal is a well-oiled machine," Armitage said. "And when something, you know, clogs that up, it's a little bit chaotic for our dispatchers because our systems are very complex and they work very well, and if something goes haywire, obviously the nature of our work is, it's pretty serious."
Later, Peninsula Fiber Network, the company running phone operations for 911, revealed an error in the optical transport network had triggered the 911 interruption and kept calls from being completed. The company plans to invest $6 million to redesign its network.
Andy Primo, who runs the dispatch center in Menominee County, looks forward to further advancements in 911 systems.
"We're moving into digital enhancements every day. No matter what type of platform or system that it is, we're getting away from a lot of the analog stuff," said Primo.
He says rural communities need improved systems just as much as urban areas and hopes the state can come alongside locals to support public safety programs.
"Keeping the lines of communication open, that's our number one goal," he said.
