A global system failure caused major problems around the world on Friday, including in Arizona, forcing police command centers to send handwritten messages and medical facilities to close.
The issue was linked to a global outage involving Microsoft systems, after the technology company on Thursday reported problems with its cloud-computing platform that affected customers around the world.
A global technology outage linked to an issue with a major cybersecurity company disrupted emergency response systems for Arizona’s top police and health agencies. Here’s what you need to know about how the outage affected Arizona.
Police station
The affected police and emergency personnel are:
- Phoenix Police: The department’s computerized 911 dispatch center was affected, department spokeswoman Donna Rossi said. The department’s systems were restored early Friday morning, according to a post on Twitter.
- Mesa Police: The department’s communications center was affected but was up and running again by 9 a.m. Friday, officials said.
- Queen Creek Police: The city confirmed it was affected by the technology outage, including its public safety dispatch services, but 911 and non-emergency phone lines were not affected.
- Goodyear Police: Officials confirmed Goodyear had issues with a system used by police and fire departments to generate electronic reports.
- Peoria Police: A city spokesman said dispatch issues began occurring around 10 p.m., but all issues had been resolved by 5 a.m. Friday.
- Scottsdale Police: A department spokesman said some systems were affected but “there was no impact to 911 emergency call reception.” Everything was fully operational by Friday afternoon.
Affected Government Systems
Governor Katie Hobbs’ office released a detailed list of the state’s essential services that were affected by Thursday night’s power outage. In a statement, Hobbs said the state had increased its monitoring of the issue to Level 2.
Hobbs said the state’s Department of Homeland Security is helping state and local governments and private companies prioritize network issues.
As of early Friday afternoon, the following services were still dealing with the outage:
- State Call Center Automotive Since the office is down, the call is routed to a higher level call center.
- Some cameras MVD Office is down, which could complicate your driver’s license renewal.
- Commercial vehicle permit services at state and international borders are not functioning.
- Dynamic message boards and cameras along the state’s highway system are prone to glitches and regularly stop working.
- Indian Health Service There will be a minor outage.
- Early voting locations Communications are down across the county. The Arizona Secretary of State’s office is working to restore communications and reports no security breach has occurred.
- situation National Tax Agency website (aztaxes.gov) was down in the morning but was up and running by Friday afternoon.
Hospitals and Healthcare Providers
The following hospitals and healthcare facilities were affected:
- American medical response: Dispatch personnel confirmed that ambulance companies were affected.
- Banner HealthA global systems outage affected the healthcare company, forcing it to close all Banner locations except hospitals and urgent care, company officials said.
- Dignity Health: “All of our hospitals are open and staff continue to provide safe, quality care to our patients. We appreciate your patience while our teams take immediate action to restore affected systems,” officials confirmed.
- St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical CenterOfficials confirmed the outage but did not disclose its extent.
- Valleywise HealthSome IT systems were affected but the emergency department and trauma centre remained open, officials said.
Stop:911, other emergency systems in Phoenix area affected by software glitch
Affected Airlines and Airports
The following airlines were affected by the outage:
- Allegiant Air
- American Airlines
- Delta Airlines
- Frontier Airlines
- Sun Country Airlines
- United Airlines
The departure area at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s Terminal 4 was packed with travelers Friday morning. Sky Harbor reported flight delays due to the power outage.
The check-in line for Southwest Airlines, which had the most flight delays on Thursday, was not crowded, but across the room, people were lining up to check in for an American Airlines flight.
Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s flight status page showed no Allegiant Airlines flights scheduled for Friday morning because of the outage. By Friday afternoon, several flights were listed as canceled, rescheduled or delayed.
Affected cities and state agencies
The following city and state government departments were affected:
- Phoenix Public TransportationThe system went down, mainly affecting bus services, but had been restored as of Friday morning, officials said.
- Maricopa County: Officials said the county was experiencing confusion with permit applications and park reservations as of Friday morning.
- Maricopa County Attorney’s Office: Officials confirmed that first appearance courts were affected and case records had to be retrieved manually. The problem was resolved just before 5am.
- Maricopa County Courts: Officials said data feeds were affected, causing data loss in the electronic filing system. The issue was resolved Friday morning.
- Maricopa County ElectionsOfficials said several polling stations were affected.
- Glendale: Officials said the city did experience a power outage, but that by 8 a.m. Friday, city systems were 98% operational, except for a few workstations. Emergency services never experienced a complete outage during the incident, officials added.
- Goodyear: Officials confirmed that Goodyear’s operations were affected, including systems used by police and fire to generate electronic reports, as well as systems for day-to-day operations citywide.
- Peoria: A city spokesman said dispatch issues began occurring around 10 p.m., but all issues had been resolved by 5 a.m. Friday.
- Pinal County: Pinal County Deputy Elections Supervisor Matt Roberts said in a Twitter post that computers within the county government, including the Pinal County Recorder’s Office, were affected, but Roberts noted that election systems were not affected.
- Queen CreekThe city confirmed that the technology outage affected its public safety dispatch services, but spokeswoman Constance Halonen Wilson said 911 and non-emergency phone lines were not affected.
- Scottsdale: Scottsdale spokeswoman Holly Peralta acknowledged the issue affected “Scottsdale and various departmental systems,” but that most issues have been resolved, with most systems either back online or in recovery mode.
Affected companies
The businesses affected by the power outage are as follows:
- Circle KPoint-of-sale terminals were reported down in the Phoenix area, and store staff were only accepting cash.
- Clarendon Hotel: The hotel at 401 W. Clarendon Ave. in Phoenix experienced issues early Friday morning, but the problem has been resolved.
- Moxy Phoenix Downtown: The hotel, located at 116 South Central Avenue in Phoenix, experienced an outage at 9 p.m. Thursday and has yet to resolve the issue.
- StarbucksAccording to multiple media reports, some stores were cash-only and X customers were frustrated by the inability to use the Starbucks mobile app.
Arizona Republic reporters Laura Daniella Sepulveda, Sasha Hupka, Jose R. Gonzalez, Jimmy Jenkins, Sam Kumac and Alexandra Hurdle contributed to this article.
