Nationwide CenturyLink outage affected Thurston County 911 for more than 12 hours

U.S. officials as well as officials in Washington state said Friday that they have started investigations into a nationwide CenturyLink internet outage that disrupted 911 service in Thurston County and in a variety of communities across the country.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai called the outage that began Thursday “completely unacceptable” because people who need help couldn’t use the emergency number.

“Its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” he said.

The Monroe, Louisiana-based telecommunications giant is one of the largest in the United States. It offers communications and information technology services in dozens of states, including Washington. Customers from California to New York reported outages.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Debra Peterson said the outage “is not related to hacking,” but she declined further comment.

The company said Friday on Twitter that it was working to restore service and was making progress.

The 911 outage in Thurston County lasted about 12 hours starting Thursday evening. Callers received a fast busy signal during the outage. Residents who had previously signed up for emergency notifications from the county were told to call the non-emergency numbers for local law enforcement if they needed help. The county also posted instructions on social media.

The 911 outage affected fire alarm systems in 12 Capitol Campus buildings and in the Plaza Garage until about 3 p.m. Friday. The systems were functional and would trigger audible alarms and strobe lights to notify occupants to evacuate, but the connection that automatically notifies the fire department was not functioning properly in some areas.

Department of Enterprise Services staff performed Fire Watch duties in the areas impacted.

Regulators in Washington state said they were opening an investigation into an outage of its statewide 911 service.

The state Utilities and Transportation Commission said interruptions began about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The commission’s regulatory services division director, Mark Vasconi, said the system appeared stable Friday but the agency was monitoring it.

The UTC said it will investigate the cause of the outage, as well as CenturyLink’s emergency preparedness and response, restoration efforts and communication with the public.