Widespread 911 disruptions hit Marion; officials cite possible fiber-optic cable cut

Cynthia Leedy works at her station in the Marion County Communications Center at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, April 5, 2024. Editor’s note: The images on this page have been digitally altered to blur sensitive and protected text displayed on monitors, both in text and displayed on maps in the Marion County Communications Center. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on Nov. 18 regarding Sumter County impact.

Marion County officials confirmed Thursday evening that 911 service is experiencing disruptions across multiple counties in Central Florida, with callers reporting dropped calls and difficulty connecting. The outages are also impacting Citrus county.

Lisa Cahill, director of Public Safety Communications for Marion County, said call takers can see the incoming 911 calls but they are dropped. She emphasized that call takers are able to see the numbers of dropped calls and call people back, ensuring that emergency help can still be reached.

Meanwhile, texting 911 works.

Michell Hirst, Marion County’s 911 Coordinator, said the county received initial information that the disruption may be tied to a fiber-optic cable cut in the Apopka area. Details remain under review.

This is the second major 911 interruption reported in Marion County in recent months. On July 8, both local 911 centers—one operated by Marion County and the other by the Ocala Police Department—experienced at least nine hours of disrupted service. At the time, at least 11 other public safety answering points across Central Florida also reported outages, including emergency communications centers in Osceola, Lake, Polk, Sumter and Citrus counties.

In July, county officials attributed the disruption to a fiber-optic cable cut in Clermont. Michelle Sanders, Marion County’s Director of 911 Management, said then that 911 traffic should have been rerouted through the carrier’s redundant network. Instead, “both the protected and unprotected sides of our fiber path experienced issues,” she wrote, prompting renewed questions about the carrier’s safeguards.

Sanders said at the time that the county’s migration to Next Generation Core Services provider is expected to eliminate single points of failure once fully implemented.

In the case of Sumter county, Public Relations Officer, Jessica Douglas wrote by email that in both the July and November incidents they were impacted by the breach of their our transit line; “however, we immediately provided an alternate number to ensure that service to our community was not disrupted.”

Sumter county was able to overcome the predicament because it is already operating under the new technology currently being installed in Marion, Sanders confirmed.

According to Cahill, although some voice calls are dropping, there was no disruption to dispatch operations—meaning first responders continue to receive and respond to calls for service.

Alert Marion issued multiple public notices Thursday advising residents that text-to-911 remains fully operational. The alerts stated:
“If you have an emergency, send a text message to 911 with your location and the nature of your emergency. Dispatchers are waiting to assist you.”