Citizens Should Not Call 911 During Power Outages

Citizens should not call 911 during power outages.

Brandon Smith coordinates public safety for Putnam County.

“The problem for us in the center is we are receiving hundreds of calls with three or four dispatchers working in the room and mixing in emergency calls on top of that,” Smith said. “So it’s really difficult to tell what are power outage calls and what are actually emergencies we need to deal with.”

Putnam County 911 receives hundreds of calls during power outages, Smith said.

“If they are just calls for power outages, we send that information over to the electric companies. We still have to wait to get through the phone line just like everyone else,” Smith said. “So the call doesn’t actually make it to the electric company any faster. It also doesn’t mean they can fix that problem any faster.”

The electric company still has to get to the root of the problem before they can fix the outage, Smith said.

Only certain instances warrant an emergency call about an outage.

“But the only reason you should ever call 911 to report a power outage is if someone is on a ventilator or on a home oxygen machine and they are running out of supplies,” Smith said. “Or if there are live power lines that are down, especially if they are on top of a vehicle or on top of a structure of some kind.”

Smith said the county wants to inform the community and protect the safety of others as well.

“We work really hard to communicate with the public from our social media accounts, from the 911 and Putnam County Emergency Management page,” Smith said. “You can communicate with us right there on our social media pages. And the information gets passed along, just as quickly as it does if you call it in on the telephone.”