Save these numbers in case of future 911 outage

Hello? Operator! Give me the number for 911!  -Homer Simpson

9-1-1 service was knocked out for much of western Washington for an entire night Thursday. Apparently Century Link was the source of the problem, but they are blaming a vendor.

The 9-1-1 outages affected Washington and Oregon, including King County. Lewis, Thurston, Clark, Pierce, King, and Snohomish counties.

By the next morning in King County, service had been restored for landline and wireless callers, but some VoIP (voice over IP) callers continued to experience problems. Cells phones seem to get through better than land lines. King County went to a back up system but it did not have the enhanced 911 capabilities such as pinpointing addresses of the caller.

If this ever happens again, here's who to call:

• Bothell PD dispatches for Lake Forest Park. The number to reach them is 425-486-1254.
• King County dispatches for Shoreline PD. The number to reach them is 206-296-3311.