CenturyLink outage impacting western Washington 911 services

SEATTLE -- A nationwide CenturyLink outage is affecting emergency call services for some people in western Washington. The outage began Thursday and continued into Friday.

CenturyLink's network was "still experiencing a disruption," but the telecommunications company was working to restore services, Monroe, Louisiana-based CenturyLink said in a statement.

The company said Thursday night the problem involved a "network element" that was affecting services but didn't provide further details.

The outages reported Thursday afternoon stretched from New York to California and even temporarily shut down phone services at the Idaho Department of Correction and knocked out 911 emergency call services in parts of western Washington state.

Most of the trouble appeared to be in the West. CenturyLink did not indicate how many customers were affected by the outage.

Previously, it estimated that services will be "fully restored" before 1 a.m. Friday, according to its Twitter page. But later tweeted saying crews are making progress and will continue to work through the issue.

Outages in the state were sporadic and fluid Thursday evening. A King County dispatch spokesperson said that it has been an intermittent issue for them throughout the day, but they started having bigger problems with incoming calls later Thursday evening.

King County advised people unable to get through by dialing 911 to try their text-to-911 feature. You can also call the 10-digit police or fire department number for your specific area.

Pierce County said Friday morning that 911 service was "slowly being restored."

Tacoma Fire said 911 service was restored Friday morning, but said if you have any trouble to use the alternate numbers.

Seattle Police ask that you call either 206-583-2111 or 206-625-5011 in the event of an emergency if you are unable to get through with 911.  Texting 911 is also an option.

A number of other agencies also provided alternate contact information in the event that you're unable to connect through 911: