911 operations resume following outage
CODY (WNE) — After a 36-hour outage, 911 service in Park County resumed last Wednesday, Park County Sheriff’s Communication Manager Monte McClain reported Monday.
When the 911 problem was identified as the failure of a circuit card, which routes traffic through Casper, he said the department was able to get the parts flown in for repairs.
“There was a single point of failure,” he said about the system that he described as based on “antiquated technology. Until the Legislature provides the funding to update to a broadband system, we’re stuck with limited points of communication.”
The Joint Appropriations Committee is looking at a study underway about how to finance an updated, statewide network.
“It’s a very serious issue,” McClain added. “It’s about public safety, and it needs to be fixed.”
During the outage, service to TCT telephones and AT&T cellphones was down, along with the county’s 911 system, he explained. Calls were routed through Worland in Washakie County, which was “able to stay up as it’s not on the same circuit for a reason I don’t fathom,” McClain said.
“Callers were overwhelming the Worland center to see if it were working as advertised,” he noted, adding praise for the staff there. “We’ve worked hard to build up a backup network for the entire Big Horn Basin, and have a pretty good system in place.”
This story was published on Nov. 9, 2026.
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