Cook County had a big problem: reoccurring 911 outages. More than an inconvenience for residents— when 911 is compromised it puts the safety of citizens, law enforcement officers, dispatchers, emergency responders, as well as regional security at risk. With an international border in our jurisdiction and a limited amount of law enforcement scattered across a huge geographic area as well as our permanent and tourist populations, regularly announcing that 911 is out is not a good thing.
Damaged CenturyLink network fiber anywhere between Grand Marais and Duluth without a redundant failover solution resulted in these communication blackouts. Construction, flooding and freezing, even animals chewing on the fiber created these emergencies. In short, there was only one communication path to Cook County.
The biggest impact was the loss of 911 services. When a 911 call comes into Dispatch the telephone number is associated with location information. This process known as ANI/ALI is managed by the exchange carrier in Duluth. When the fiber was damaged, ANI/ALI doesn’t function. The information provided by ANI/ALI is important when the 911 caller is unable to complete the call. Aside from the location info loss, the various phone exchanges in Cook County were also isolated. Any exchange outside of 387 was unable to reach Dispatch through either 911 or the non-emergency number.
During an outage, emergency operations contingency plans were put in place requiring volunteer fire departments to staff their halls. If phones weren’t an option, anyone with a 911 emergency had to get to a fire hall where responders could contact Dispatch through the ARMER radio system. Likely, if someone is calling 911 for an emergency getting to the closest fire hall may not be feasible. The Sheriff ’s Office also often had to strategically position deputies as part of contingency operations.
On top of the 911 issues, was the loss of communication with the world outside of Cook County for businesses, critical public assets like the hospital, school and government offices, and homeowners. Some cell phones also didn’t work, as they too are dependent on network fiber.
Broadband introduced new opportunities
In late 2010, Arrowhead Electric was awarded a federal grant to build out fiber to the home network. Around the same time the Northeast Service Cooperative (NESC) was also awarded federal grants and loans to create a fiber network in eight northeast Minnesota counties including Cook. The NESC fiber was specifically for government entities, healthcare providers and schools.
NESC and Arrowhead shared the new broadband network path as it came up the shore. Broadband services from both providers began to be available in Cook County in 2013, but it would be a few more years until the broadband buildout was complete.
These projects provided an opportunity to solve the 911 issue because there could now be two fiber trunks between Duluth and Grand Marais. If the CenturyLink fiber used for 911 communication was damaged, the NESC fiber could potentially become a secondary path.
In April 2014, a few weeks after MIS director Rena Rogers started with Cook County, she met with Dana Wahlberg, the 911 program manager for the State of Minnesota’s Emergency Communication Network (ECN), to raise Cook County’s 911 issue and push the opportunity for redundancy that the new broadband projects presented. As straightforward as the solution seemed, it would take over four years to make it happen.
The solution was found when everyone arrived
The Cook County Sheriff ’s Office along with Emergency Management Office joined the fight to advocate with Homeland Security and MN ECN. We have now achieved 911 redundancy because of key partnerships with the State of Minnesota and NESC. Under the leadership of Dana Wahlberg, the state worked with CenturyLink and NESC, strongly encouraging they work together to find a solution for Cook County and also dedicated the funding.
The results
Today, CenturyLink has dedicated fiber in the NESC trunk. If the CenturyLink fiber is damaged, all phone and internet traffic is transferred to the NESC fiber. On July 20, 2018, we got word that this redundant solution had been successfully tested. 911 redundancy was achieved!
But the project continued to make it work both ways. The contract between CenturyLink and NESC also provided NESC with dedicated fiber in the CenturyLink trunk—meaning the solution could work both ways. This January 15, NESC completed redundancy testing using the CenturyLink path. The result is redundant internet services for the hospital, school, and government offices.
The broadband projects introduced a solution to a longtime problem, but the solution could not be implemented by Cook County alone. Our partners at the state, NESC, and CenturyLink made this a reality, for which Cook County—especially MIS director Rena Rogers and our public safety leaders, are forever grateful for and relieved.
This is one example of how Cook County’s dedicated professionals go above and beyond behind the scenes to move the county forward and ensure quality public service, solutions and safety for citizens.
County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County—Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service
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