A fire in Nebraska left some Sprint customers in the Twin Cities unable to call 911 Tuesday, and officials initially told people to call alternate numbers if they needed to reach emergency services.
In Ramsey County, Sprint put a workaround in place to route their customers’ 911 calls to the county’s Emergency Communications Center automatically, said Scott Williams, deputy county manager for safety and justice.
Later Tuesday night, the county said Sprint had returned regular 911 call service to its customers.
A workaround was set up in Minneapolis shortly before 6:30 p.m.
According to the city of Minneapolis, the problem was due to a fire in a Sprint facility in Omaha.
“Sprint is in the process of restoring power to the facility where the fire took place,” according to an announcement from Minneapolis. “Until that work is completed, any 911 calls made on Sprint phones will be automatically transferred to the emergency call center’s seven-digit phone number. That means all Sprint customers in Minneapolis can now call 911 to get emergency help.”
911/Sprint UPDATE: Sprint users can now call 911 from their cell phone. pic.twitter.com/JKw3cKnFR0
— City of Minneapolis (@CityMinneapolis) December 14, 2016
There was a fire in Omaha on Tuesday in a building owned by Sprint that left a person critically injured, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Sprint said 911 calls in Omaha and the “surrounding area may be impacted” following the fire.
9-1-1 calls in #Omaha & surrounding area may be impacted following fire. Customers should dial 10-digit non-emergency # or text, if needed.
— Sprint Care (@sprintcare) December 13, 2016