Suisun City, California, declared a local emergency Saturday after malicious software disrupted 911 routing, police and fire dispatch, records and other city services, prompting officials to shut down the municipal IT network.
Emergency services remained available through a workaround. Suisun City’s dispatch center normally answers 911 and nonemergency calls, gathers and prioritizes information, dispatches emergency personnel and monitors officer safety. Dispatchers shifted operations to the Solano County dispatch center while city police officers and firefighters continued responding to calls for service.
Suisun City is a Solano County municipality of about 29,000 people, roughly 45 miles northeast of San Francisco.
City officials said malicious software infected and compromised IT systems at about 5:45 a.m. Friday. To contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation, the city shut down its entire IT network and activated its Emergency Operations Center.
The City Council declared the local emergency during a special meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday. The declaration, made under California Government Code Section 8630, allows the city to more quickly access emergency support and seek reimbursement for costs associated with the incident.
As of the city's 12:30 p.m. Saturday update, online city services and internal operations remained unavailable. Officials said there was no imminent threat to the public and that all public safety services remained active through the dispatch workaround.
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The city said it was working with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, California Office of Emergency Services and regional agencies to investigate the incident and restore systems. Officials had not said what type of malicious software was involved, how it entered the network or whether the incident involved ransomware.
Officials also had not disclosed whether information was accessed or stolen, whether a ransom demand was made or whether an attacker had been identified. The city said only that malicious software infected and compromised its IT systems.
A similar but shorter-lived disruption affected 911 call handling in Central Texas in August 2024, though the cause was different. A telephony denial-of-service attack disrupted service for several hours. Some callers could not reach 911, dispatchers had difficulty hearing others, and location information failed to appear on some calls. Emergency calls were rerouted to other dispatch centers until normal operations were restored.
Suisun City had not provided a timetable Saturday for restoring its online services or internal systems. The investigation and recovery remained underway, with emergency calls being handled through the Solano County dispatch center.
