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Red Deer grateful to Saskatoon police for helping during 9-1-1 outage

Telus Mobility customers had to dial 9-1-1 from a landline before outage was resolved
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Red Deer Emergency Services expressed gratitude to the Saskatoon Police department for stepping up to assist during a recent Telus 9-1-1 outage. (City of Red Deer photo).

Saskatoon police received a gift of McFlurries from the City of Red Deer’s emergency services department for assisting during last week’s Telus 9-1-1 outage.

According to the city’s wearereddeer.ca website, Saskatoon’s police department stepped in to help out during “an unprecedented flurry of activity” last Wednesday.

At about 9 a.m. that morning, Telus Mobility experienced an outage that prevented central Alberta customers from calling 9-1-1 on their phones.

The City of Red Deer, along with Airdrie, Clearwater County and Rockyford County, sent out emergency information alerts to residents.

Red Deer residents were told that if they needed to call 9-1-1, they should do it from a land line, or go to their nearest police detachment or fire hall.

When the outage was resolved at noon, Red Deer Deputy Chief Chris Kearns discovered that Saskatoon police had taken most of the local emergency calls.

Saskatoon police “went above and beyond, handling their own calls, along with the Telus Mobility calls for the province of Alberta, and figured out the necessary work arounds to handle the increased volume of calls, so that no one was negatively impacted,” states the city.

The McDonalds frozen treats were delivered because “we are so appreciative of our colleagues in other provinces who have our backs, especially during this unprecedented time. Thank you, Saskatoon police!”