Massachusetts Hit With Major 911 Outage Statewide [Update: It's Back Online]

File photo of a Fire Box in Boston, which the local fire department has instructed people to use in an emergency since 911 is down across the state.

Photo: Nicolaus Czarnecki/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald (Getty Images)

Update, 5:31 p.m. ET: The 911 system in Massachusetts has been restored, according to a tweet from the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. A cause for the outage is still being investigated and the agency writes it will, “provide more info when available.” The original article about the outage appears below.

The 911 emergency phone system is down in the entire state of Massachusetts, according to an advisory published online Tuesday by the MA State Police. And there’s no word yet on how long the outage might last.

An emergency alert was sent out to phones across the region, including some people who reported on X that they received alerts despite living in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island State Police clarified on X that 911 service in the state has not been impacted. Neighboring New Hampshire is also not experiencing an outage, according to police in that state.

Anyone who needs firefighting assistance in Boston is being told by the Boston Fire Department to “pull your nearest Fire Box, or call the Boston Fire Department at 617-343-2880.” Firefighters also note people can simply travel to their nearest fire station to ask for help.

And anyone who needs police assistance is being urged to use the regional phone number for their area of Massachusetts:

Oddly, 911 service went out in several states that largely don’t touch each other back in April—including parts of Nevada, Nebraska, Texas, and the entire state of South Dakota—after a contractor reportedly severed a fiber line in an accident while installing a light pole. In that case, service was restored in about 2.5 hours, according to the 911 cloud services contractor Lumen.