Officials in Massachusetts reported a statewide outage of its 911 system on Tuesday.

“The 911 system is down STATEWIDE in Massachusetts, and there is no ETA on it returning. Boston police are literally recommending people go FIND a police officer or ‘fire box' to pull if there’s an emergency. This comes just weeks after 15 other states suffered similar outages,” journalist Nick Sortor said.

🚨 #BREAKING: The 911 system is down STATEWIDE in Massachusetts, and there is no ETA on it returning.

Boston police are literally recommending people go FIND a police officer or “fire box” to pull if there’s an emergency.

This comes just weeks after 15 other states suffered… pic.twitter.com/pkhqekP6dZ

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 18, 2024

* Image from Nick Sortor X Post *

“Currently the statewide 911 system is down. Calls are not going through,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said, according to Boston 25 News.

“We’ve been in touch with the state and the relevant officials to work on getting this resolved,” she added.

WATCH:

BREAKING: Massachusetts dealing with statewide 911 system outage. pic.twitter.com/DZ2nRAn4aK

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 18, 2024

Boston 25 News reports:

The State 911 Department sent out an alert to mobile phones with a message that read,” 911 services are currently down statewide. Delays in public safety response may occur. Call the local public safety business line directly if you or others are having an emergency. More information will be provided when available.”

In a post on X, the Boston Police Department shared some guidance for residents who find themselves in an emergency.

“911 is currently down statewide. If you experience an emergency please pull a firebox,” the department wrote. “If you need assistance, please reach out to your local Boston Police District Station.”

The Boston Fire Department shared a similar message, notifying residents that they can also get emergency assistance at their nearest firehouse.

911 is down in the entire state of Massachusetts right now. pic.twitter.com/R4lqThLCwM

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) June 18, 2024

WATCH:

🚨BREAKING NEWS:🚨

Massachusetts is currently grappling with a severe statewide 911 outage, disrupting emergency services across the state. In response to this critical situation, state officials have issued an emergency alert to cellphones, urging residents to contact their… pic.twitter.com/N3jV51Gqxt

— Dr. Jeffrey Horelick (@DrJeffHorelick) June 18, 2024

From the Associated Press:

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said residents shouldn’t worry about calling the correct number or facility for their emergency, but to just reach out to their nearest authorities.

“If you are experiencing an emergency, if you find your way to police, fire or EMS, we will make sure that you get to the right place,” she said.

She said authorities were working to resolve the issue.

Cox said the disruption “could be very temporary.”

“But we thought it was important, particularly with the heat that we’re about to experience, to make sure that we give people the opportunity to know what’s going on,” he said.

The Massachusetts disruption caused confusion in other northeastern states, where some residents also got notifications on their phones. But authorities in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New York all said their systems were operational.