COLUMBIA, MO — The Columbia-Boone County Joint Communications is now back to full operations after a small fire impacted the center’s phone lines.

WALDO COUNTY, ME — Help us help you. That’s the message coming from local dispatchers, police, fire and ambulance workers from around the county, who say they sometimes struggle to find those who call 911 in an emergency because their house numbers are outdated, not easily visible, or, in some cases, not displayed at all.

NASHUA, NH — A week ago, after the Halloween snowstorm swept through the area, Wilton and Lyndeborough experienced this connected world’s ultimate nightmare: Not only were many homes left without power, cutting off the Internet along with lights and heat, but everybody was without landline phones as well as cellphones.

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, CA — Callers in an area of San Juan Bautista concerned about smoke over the mountains could not get through to emergency dispatchers Wednesday, but the breakdown shed light on the fact that some phone lines had been misrouted when 911 response service for San Benito County was switched to Santa Cruz 911.

MILWAUKEE, WI — Dispatchers are the front line in an emergency, but 12 News uncovered troubling and potentially dangerous details from North Shore Public Safety Dispatch.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A telecommunications group told federal regulators that telecommunications providers and public agencies that handle 911 emergency calls should look at how their telephone trunk lines react in heavy calling periods to avoid cascading service outages.

WALES, U.K. — The Welsh ambulance service has hit its emergency response time target for the eighth month in a row, despite a slight dip in performance.