B.C. 911 dispatch service ‘functioning as normal’ following unplanned outage

VANCOUVER – The dispatch service that handles most of British Columbia’s 911 calls says its lines are again operating as normal after an “unplanned outage” Saturday morning.

A spokeswoman with E-Comm 911 says one of its servers malfunctioned around 6 a.m.

Carly Paice says that while calls were still getting through to dispatchers, they were experiencing longer wait times.

She says the system gradually began improving and resumed “functioning as normal” around 11 a.m.

Paice says this means the public can again reach 911 operators without added delays.

She says the service does not yet have a full indication of the impact of the outage, but the E-Comm’s tech team will be investigating in the coming days.

“These types of things don’t have to happen often, thankfully, but we practice for this very reason,” Paice said in an interview Saturday, referring to the outage. “So calls were still getting through, callers were just experiencing some longer wait times.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2024.