It took a little more than 24 hours, but Butler County's 911 operations center is fully operational.

Rob McLafferty, county 911 coordinator, said Lumen, formerly known as CenturyLink, informed the county around 2:30 p.m. Thursday that technicians restored service after phone fibers were severed Wednesday afternoon. He said the county tested the lines for several hours until they “felt comfortable making that move back.”

The dispatch center was informed shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday that service had been disrupted after one phone line was cut in Maryland and another near Philadelphia, something McLafferty said affected 13 additional counties in Pennsylvania. The county informed residents to use the non-emergency number until services could be restored or rerouted.

McLafferty said the county was able to route phone calls through neighboring counties, keeping 911 operational. Dispatch services were not affected, so fire, police and EMS could be directed to the scenes of emergencies, and public safety agencies manned their stations, so “the public was able to at least access those buildings” as well.

“We have a plan to do that with Lawrence, Venango and Mercer County, and we were able to implement that plan successfully,” McLafferty said. “Those agencies were able to take those calls and send them over to us, and we certainly appreciate their assistance through this.”

On Thursday morning, some functionality was restored to the county through Consolidated Communications. Lumen followed that afternoon, McLafferty said, which meant other phone carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile were able to get through.

“Everybody's able to dial 911 without any issue,” McLafferty said. “All the phones are working. We've removed all of the alternate routing that was done in order to make the calls get through.”

A Lumen spokeswoman said at around 1:15 p.m. Thursday phone services had been restored.

“Our technicians have restored 911 services in all the Pennsylvania counties that were impacted by a recent fiber cut near Philadelphia,” Linda Johnson, the spokeswoman, said. “We appreciate your patience and apologize for the disruption.”

McLafferty said the county's backup plan for its emergency dispatch center ensured disruptions were kept to a minimum.

“We're excited we have good neighbors who would help cover us and we were able to keep 911 operational,” he said.

Eagle staff writer Steve Ferris contributed to this report.