On Saturday evening, a technical fault caused the 112 emergency number to be unavailable for almost two hours in the area covered by the Mainz fire department control center. Thanks to pre-planned measures and cooperation with the police, the emergency number was still accessible during this time. The city of Mainz and the districts of Mainz-Bingen and Alzey-Worms were affected.

At 8:26 p.m., the fire department control center's monitoring system reported a technical malfunction. The dispatchers immediately noticed that the telecommunications technology – including the emergency call reception system – had failed. As planned in advance for such cases, emergency operations were immediately initiated and personnel on standby and off duty were activated. In addition, the 112 emergency number was redirected via the Telekom network control center to the Mainz police control center.

Warning apps and the press were used to advise the public to call 110 in case of emergency. Thanks to redundant technology, the alarm system and radio communication with the fire departments were ensured at all times.
Troubleshooting and repair took until 10:20 p.m. Since then, the 112 emergency number has been available again as usual for all non-police emergencies. To safeguard the systems, emergency operations remain in place in the background.

The cause was probably a technical defect in a component, which led to a chain reaction that damaged a component of the telecommunications system. The component was replaced.

For the Mainz fire department, it became clear that the advance planning for emergency operation of the control center had been successful. Despite the greatest possible security measures, this was the first time that such a failure of technical components had occurred, which fortunately had no consequences.

Head of operations: Michael Weitzel, fire department officer on duty