Officials: Technician To Blame For 911 Failure

There are new details about an emergency error that may have caused the Allegheny County 911 system to go down.

Officials said a technician is to blame for problems with the emergency system.

County Chief of Emergency Services Bob Full said the tech forgot to reactivate a default switch.

The error caused 911 to miss at least 100 calls on Oct. 25.

The investigation continues into whether the error led to the death of a 5-month-old boy.

The boy's father tried unsuccessfully for almost 20 minutes to reach 911.

The medical examiner said the baby died of sudden unexplained infant death or natural causes.

On Thursday, local lawmaker Vince Gastgeb introduced a bill that called for changes to the county's 911 system.

He is calling for the county's backup center in the Strip District to be staffed.

He said activating the center would not cost the county anything.

Previous Stories: November 1, 2006: Investigation Conducted Into Allegheny Co. 911 Failure October 27, 2006: Is 911 Outage To Blame For Infant's Death? October 26, 2006: Allegheny Co. Emergency Services Holds Press Conference October 26, 2006: Allegheny Co. 911 Service Restored