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Computer Outage Knocks Out 911 Lines In Four Counties

CHICAGO (CBS) -- An apparent computer failure has led to disruption of 911 service in four Illinois counties.

Telecom company Frontier had a 911 service failure at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, affecting Ogle, DeKalb, Lee and Stephenson counties, according to the Ogle County Sheriff's Department.

At approximately midnight, Frontier was able to reroute 9-1-1 calls to a non-emergency number. As of right now they continue to work on the problem, but 9-1-1 calls are able to be placed and and answered.

Posted by Ogle County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Initially people were being told to dial police numbers directly, in the event of an emergency; but officials have managed to re-route 911 calls so they're getting through to the counties' respective sheriff's departments.

The DeKalb Police Department, on its Facebook page, said it's likely service will be down all day and into the night.

Frontier, according to police, is working on solving the problem.

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