Council committee hears city agencies on 911 outage contingency plans; item remains in committee

The Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice held a public hearing on the city’s 911 call operations and contingency planning and recommended that the docket remain in committee for further review.

Councilor Santana, chair of the committee, said the Sept. 23 hearing brought together the Boston Fire Department, Boston Police Department technology and emergency operations personnel, and Emergency Medical Services leadership to describe current systems, contingency plans and coordination between departments. Witnesses included James Hooley (Chief of EMS), Chris Walsh (Deputy Superintendent, Technology Services Division, Boston Police Department), Christopher Mark Noussis (Director, Operations Division, Emergency 911, Boston Police Department), Christopher Burke (Deputy Chief, Boston Fire Department), Robert Barnes (Deputy Superintendent of EMS), and Jason Yuckins (President, EMS union).

Councilors asked how the city communicates with residents when systems fail, including non‑English speakers and residents without smartphones. Councilor Ed Flynn highlighted the need to ensure Cantonese- and other non-English-speaking residents can access emergency services during technical failures in his district. Several councilors underscored the importance of maintaining and supporting physical fire-call boxes in neighborhoods as a redundancy when phone systems are down.

Witnesses described department coordination during previous outages and noted upgrades needed for EMS phone and computer systems. The committee concluded the conversation was informative and voted to keep the docket in committee for follow-up and additional technical detail.