New York City Council hearing: officials say 319 unique callers were affected in the Aug. 18, 2026 Bronx 911 outage; 206 later reached operators and 113 remained unserved, and the city reports no identified deaths or injuries tied to the disruption while its review continues. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310)
# What’s happening
– City reported 319 unique 911 callers affected during the Aug. 18 outage.
– City reported 206 of those 319 callers later connected with operators.
– City reported 113 unique phone numbers remained unserved; no deaths or injuries identified so far.
Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310
# Why it matters
– People calling 911 during the outage in the Bronx may not have reached emergency dispatch.
– Failure to reach 911 can delay police, fire, or ambulance response during life‑threatening events.
Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=30
# Key details
– Outage window: Aug. 18, 2026, from about 3:13 a.m. to 10:19 a.m. (city cited that window).
– Total calls during outage window: 5,489 emergency-related calls.
– Calls handled: about 3,800 (70%); calls that encountered issues: 1,696.
– 742 of the problematic calls were 911 calls; 319 were from unique phone numbers.
– Of the 319 unique callers, 206 eventually connected and 113 did not.
– Restoration: city and vendor work returned full redundancy across PAC1 and PAC2 by 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 19.
Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310
City officials testified at a Sept. 9, 2026 Council oversight hearing that the Aug. 18 outage affected hundreds of callers and that their review has not found any deaths or injuries attributable to the disruption to date. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6021)
**Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI)**
– Role or jurisdiction: City agency responsible for managed 911 services and vendor oversight.
– Action taken or responsibility: Worked with vendor and city partners on incident analysis and interim mitigations.
– Relevant numbers or dates: Reported 5,489 calls during the Aug. 18 outage window.
Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310
Officials said about 5,489 calls came in between 3:13 a.m. and 10:19 a.m. on Aug. 18, and that roughly 70 percent of those calls were handled without issue. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310)
City testimony broke down the calls that encountered problems: 1,696 calls had issues, of which 742 were 911 calls. City officials counted 319 unique phone numbers among those 742 911 calls. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310)
City witnesses told the Council that 206 of those 319 unique callers eventually connected with an operator and that 113 unique phone numbers remained unserved. The administration said it is continuing a detailed root cause analysis. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310)
**Motorola Solutions (vendor identified by city)**
– Role or jurisdiction: Vendor responsible for the managed service software update tied to the outage.
– Action taken or responsibility: Vendor coordinated with city teams to return PAC2 hardware to working state.
– Relevant numbers or dates: City restored full PAC1 and PAC2 routing by 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 19.
Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6123
Council members asked whether the city had identified the emergency types for the 113 unserved numbers and whether any resulted in injury or death. City witnesses said their review to date had not identified any death or injury attributable to the disruption, but that the inquiry remains ongoing. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6021)
City and NYPD staff described post‑outage outreach efforts. The NYPD reported making 526 callback attempts in the 24 hours after the outage using vendor-provided numbers and establishing voice contact with 32 individuals during that period. City witnesses said many callback attempts did not reach people. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6213)
**NYPD (New York City Police Department)**
– Role or jurisdiction: City police department; operates 911 call takers for police communications.
– Action taken or responsibility: Notified OTI of early alarms at about 6 a.m.; conducted callback outreach after the outage.
– Relevant numbers or dates: NYPD reported 526 callback attempts and voice contact with 32 people within 24 hours.
Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=2839 and https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6213
Officials described interim operational changes put in place while the city completes its analysis: daily change‑management calls, a freeze on outbound software changes, hourly manual monitoring of call recordings, and training to improve escalation for “dead air” or one‑way audio calls. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=7913)
Witnesses explained the technical presentation of the issue: the error did not show during normal functional tests because it appeared only after a session timeout — a “time to live” expiration — and automated monitoring did not detect the anomaly. Officials said they will expand testing and monitoring to cover those scenarios going forward. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=5931)
The hearing included questions about communications with the public during the outage. Officials said they activated a “bounceback” text message to inform the public that text‑to‑911 was unavailable and advised alternative options for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, including TTY and relay/translation apps that call into the city’s 911 system. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6685)
The city stated it restored normal routing using both PAC1 and PAC2 (fully redundant operations) after coordinating overnight with Motorola; that restoration to dual‑site routing completed by 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 19. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310)
Council members requested a definitive itemized list of the 113 unserved callers and the nature of their emergencies; city witnesses said the analysis is ongoing and that they will follow up with the Council after completing their review. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=6021)
For the numbers and timeline cited in this article, see the City Council oversight hearing video and testimony. (Source: https://youtu.be/BT4l-byOlC0&t=1310)
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