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Breaking: 911 Is Down In Bethel

The Bethel Police Department's emergency system experienced an outage on March 29, 2018.
Courtesy of the Bethel Police Department.

Update 12:20pm, March 29, 2018: According to the Bethel Police Department, 911 is back up and running again.

911 is down in Bethel, and the police are urging residents to take precautions.

Bethel Police Department Dispatcher Natalie Hayes says that the line went down less than an hour ago, and that the problem is due to a GCI cellular outage effecting the whole town. She added that cell phones can only call cell phones in Bethel at the moment, and landlines can only call landlines. No one can call 911.

Hayes urged residents to call the Bethel Police Department from a landline if they have an emergency, and said that they should call the department's non-emergency number: 907-543-3781. Bethel residents can also message the police on Facebook, but Hayes said they should only do so as a last resort.

It’s still unclear what’s causing the Bethel outage. In a call with Hayes this morning, GCI said that they’re experiencing a statewide data outage, but it’s not clear how that would affect Bethel’s 911 system. The Bethel Police Department also experienced problems communicating by radio this morning, though that was quickly fixed.

Our reporting on this incident is ongoing.