The Hamilton County Emergency Communications District reported early Monday afternoon that AT&T has effected repairs to fully restore E9-1-1 services for the Hamilton County area.
The Hamilton County Emergency Communications District had reported Monday morning that due to a major fiber cut in the AT&T system, the Emergency Communications Center was not receiving any calls, E911 and non-emergency, from wireline phones. E911 calls from cellular devises were still being delivered.
John Stuermer, executive director for the Hamilton County Emergency Communications District, said, “At this point we are trying to determine the scope and impact of the outage, but it appears to be very large and widespread. We have received a report that Knox County is being impacted as well.
“Anyone needing emergency services should use their cellular devices to call E911 until advised otherwise.”
EPB officials said, "AT&T is reporting a fiber cut between Shelbyville and Tullahoma that is creating widespread phone outages across Tennessee and elsewhere.
EPB phone customers are still able to call within our service area, and we have re-routed call traffic around the problem as much as possible to reduce the impact for Fi Phone customers.
"As of 10:30 a.m., EPB testing provided initial indications that the problem may be resolved for Fi Phone customers. From its information, AT&T may still be working on the line which could cause further issues, but for the time being all call services seem to be restored.
"EPB took steps to ensure that our land-line phone services for 911 calls operated normally. In addition, EPB re-routed as much call traffic around the problem as possible to reduce impacts to our customers.
"We have also taken steps to ensure that 911 calls will work for EPB land-line customers. AT&T is not reporting an estimated time of repair at this time, but we are monitoring the situation closely. If customers have questions or experience other problems, please go to EPB.com and contact us by web chat."
Walker County had set up a temporary bank of cell numbers for residents to reach 911 in the event of an emergency while the fiber line issue impacts service across the region. Please dial one of these 10 digit numbers to reach Walker County 911.
(423) 443-6345
(423) 443-6543
(423) 443-7377
(423) 443-7825