Emergency alert in Pennsylvania warns of intermittent 911 outage

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Updated July 11, 2025, 4:13 p.m. ET


HANOVER, PA ‒ Phones in Pennsylvania rang out with the eerie noise of an emergency alert on Friday afternoon, July 11, as the state warned of an intermittent 911 outage.

"Pennsylvania is experiencing a statewide intermittent 911 outage," the alert said. "Individuals experiencing issues contacting 911 are asked to contact their local 911 Center on their non-Emergency lines."

The alert was received by phones in multiple parts of the state, including Beaver County in western Pennsylvania and York County in southcentral, Pennsylvania. Please only call 911 for true emergencies. Do not call just to check whether it is working," the PA Emergency Management Agency posted on social media.

Pennsylvania is the fifth most populous state in the United States with over 13 million residents, according to census records. The state did not immediately provide information on the cause of the 911 problems or how long they may take to resolve.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/11/pennsylvania-emergency-alert-911-outage/84632944007/

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And yup, I got the EAS alert on my phones and one of my sisters immediately texted what was basically a WTF? text.

Definitely important though because 911 is a critical number for emergencies.

[FalloutShelter]

1. Yep. Received the warning in Bucks County, PA

[PJMcK]

2. We're in Wayne County, PA

All the phones in the house went off! It was quite a cacophony.

I believe it’s back to normal as of 5:43 pm.

[BBbats]

3. Got The Alert In Center City Philadelphia.

[summer_in_TX]

4. I truly hope the 9-1-1 call systems have been revamped in the last 15 years.

My sister worked for several years for the company providing those services in the Austin area. Her job was to test and debug programming being done to keep the system operational, particularly for cell phones. She found it incredibly stressful because it was a patchwork layered on top of the existing landline system. She feared it breaking down and couldn't bear the thought of it being on her watch. So she left.

[Deminpenn]

5. Got the EAS alert in Beaver County

Thought it was an Amber alert.