Verizon details errors in derecho, calls response to 911 outages ‘insufficient’

Verizon officials did not know that 911 emergency service was out in Fairfax County during June’s derecho storm until the county called to tell them, according to a Verizon executive and a company report to be released to local governments.

The report, to be presented August 15 to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, for the first time acknowledges widespread failures in Verizon’s 911 emergency backup systems during the storm. It also admits significant problems with Arlington County’s 911 service that Verizon had previously denied. In addition, the report says drained batteries, faulty generators and the failure of a technician to thoroughly explore the cause of troubles extended the delays in restoring full 911 service to nearly 2.3 million residents in Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William counties and Manassas and Manassas Park.