Due to a mysterious malfunction, the Ames Police Department suffered interruption of its 911 service Sunday morning.

According to Ames police, the 911 service suddenly went down at about 7 a.m. Sunday due to unknown circumstances. Service was restored at about 10 a.m.

The interruption was not limited to the Ames community.

In total, 12 central and southeast Iowa counties suffered interruptions in their 911 services Sunday morning.

The counties included Story, Polk, Dallas, Warren, Boone, Guthrie, Jasper, Mahaska, Jefferson, Wayne, Wapello and Poweshiek. All experienced both general phone and 911 service interruptions early Sunday morning due to a blown fuse at a U.S. West transmitter station located on Des Moines’ West side.

The Des Moines station is where all 911 calls for these counties converge before they are sent out to their respective destinations.

General phone service as well as 911 service was interrupted for more than four hours.

The problem was fixed and all 911 service in the respective counties was up and running again by 11 a.m.

Aside from being inconvenienced none of the affected communities suffered or reported any major problems during the time of the blackout.