AG: CenturyLink responsible for widespread Washington 911 outage in 2018

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson testified that CenturyLink is responsible for "many of the technological failures that caused the widespread 911 outage in December 2018."

According to Ferguson's office, more than 10,700 calls were blocked from reaching 911 dispatch during the outage that disrupted emergency communications intermittently for nearly 50 hours.

The outage began the morning of Dec. 27, 2018. Officials said a failure in the company's fiber-optic network caused the disruption.

As part of the filings, several Washingtonians also submitted testimony about their experiences during the outage.

One man suffered an extreme spike in blood pressure during the outage. His wife tried calling 911 six times but was disconnected each time. She and her daughter carried the man to their truck and took him to the hospital for treatment. The family said the man is still suffering the lasting effects due to the delay in treatment.

"It was horrible to realize my family had to carry me to the truck and get me to the hospital themselves, especially when I could have received treatment from EMTs right away," said David White of Olympia, Washington. "My understanding is that by the time my wife and daughter were able to get me to the hospital themselves my blood pressure had spiked so high that getting it back down was a long process…. The length of that process caused me many new injuries, including Stage 3 kidney disease, glaucoma, migraines and vertigo. My family and I have to live with this new reality every day."

The state claims:

CenturyLink designed the connection with Comtech, its successor, as part of the transition between the two companies. The technology chosen by CenturyLink over Comtech’s objections was outdated and not sufficiently reliable.
CenturyLink’s design of the connection between the two companies resulted in a single vendor providing the network element that failed. The outage could have been reduced if the system had incorporated sufficient vendor diversity, so one technological glitch would not cause a widespread failure.
CenturyLink failed to notify the call centers, both those under its direct management and those that had transitioned to Comtech, that it was experiencing a network outage. Because CenturyLink was responsible for providing access to all telephone carriers, CenturyLink should have also notified the telephone carriers that calls made by their customers to 911 may not go through during the outage.
CenturyLink has a history of outages on its systems. This outage was the second lengthy statewide outage of the emergency call system managed by CenturyLink since 2014, when the 911 system was down for six hours.

"This is not the first time CenturyLink failed to provide reliable 911 services," Ferguson said. "Imagine being in a car accident or having a medical emergency and not being able to reach 911. As a result of CenturyLink’s conduct, thousands of Washingtonians called 911 only to be met with a busy signal. CenturyLink must pay the maximum penalty for its violations of state law."

CenturyLink's response to the testimony must be submitted by March 30, 2022. The Utilities and Transportation Committee will consider the evidence in August and decide on any possible penalties.

You can read the full testimony submitted by Washingtonians below:

Get breaking news alerts in the FREE FOX 13 Seattle app. Download for Apple iOS or Android.

Stay connected with FOX 13 News on all platforms:
DOWNLOAD: FOX 13 News and Weather Apps
WATCH: FOX 13 News Live
SUBSCRIBE: FOX 13 on YouTube
DAILY BRIEF: Sign Up For Our Newsletter
FOLLOW: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram