Cricket 911 calls operating normally, company says

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer 5:09 PM Thursday, April 9, 2009

Cricket Wireless officials say they have corrected a problem that caused a Miamisburg man’s 911 calls to go unanswered by emergency dispatchers as his garage burned earlier this week.

“All Montgomery County, Ohio 911 numbers for Cricket customers are currently being validated today in a testing procedure that is expected to be completed by 6 p.m. (Thursday, April 9),” the company said in a news release. “Initial tests results show Cricket’s Dayton-area 911 service to be operating normally.”

Josh Bledsoe had said he called 911 approximately five times from his Cricket phone as his garage at 360 S. Gebhart Church Road on Tuesday night. Each time, the call was sent to the City of Miamisburg municipal building, which answered only with a recording.

Bledsoe’s wife eventually connected with dispatchers using her Cincinnati Bell cell phone at 10:59 p.m. The fire, which caused several explosions, consumed the garage and also damaged the house.

Greg Lund, a Cricket spokesperson, said the company was given an incorrect number to program for its phones’ 911 use that local authorities provided and sent calls to a non-emergency line. Lund said the problem only affected that single cell site, and there are more than 100 cell sites in the Dayton area.

Lund said Cricket first learned of the problem Wednesday, although Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said at a news conference on Wednesday that the county had warned Cricket of the problem in the past.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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