Emergency officials were forced to adapt during this morning's massive communications blackout, which left the territory without phone service or 911 access for about six hours.

At a press conference held late this morning, officials with the Whitehorse Fire Department, the RCMP and Whitehorse General Hospital said there were no major emergencies or crimes during the outage.

The loss of 911 was part of a much larger communications outage through the entire territory starting at around 4 a.m.

Land line and cell phone service was knocked out along with the Internet since about 4 a.m.

Phones began coming back around 10 a.m.

As of early this afternoon, the Internet was still down in parts of the city.

Once communication went down, emergency preparedness plans for both the city and the territory were activated.

More police officers were sent to patrol the streets and EMS set up two satellite stations — at the Canada Games Centre and the former Canadian Tire store — where residents could go to get emergency care, said director of EMS Michael McKeage.

With 911 back up and running, those stations have since been shut down.

Without functioning land lines, officials relied on hand-held radios to communicate with each other on a dedicated emergency channel, explained Michael Templeton, director of the territory's Emergency Measures Organization (EMO).

"This interagency radio system allowed us to talk between departments such as EMO, EMS, YTG and the RCMP,” he said.

In some cases, staff were sent to colleagues' front doors to wake them up and inform them what was going on.

Radios were also used by the territory's fire marshall to keep in contact with volunteer firefighters working in the Yukon's rural communities while satellite phones kept medical professionals outside the city connected.

McKeage said he was planning a teleconference with staff in the communities this afternoon to go over how things went.

Among the key pieces in this network of radios was the Yukon Amateur Radio Association.

The association has a network of radio repeaters that cover most of the territory.

"Chatter” about a communication outage first started coming across the radios at around 5 a.m., said president Terry Maher.

By 6 a.m., 20 members of the volunteer association were positioned around the city, including at the fire station, the Public Safety Building and the CBC.

Members in Whitehorse were also able to stay in contact with other volunteers in Dawson City and Haines Junction.

"We were connected throughout the Yukon, anywhere we have members,” he said.

In Whitehorse, Mayor Bev Buckway said staff were sent to the water and sewer stations.

Emergency alarms at those stations require a land line to function, she said.

No problems were found.

K.D. Braden, a spokesperson for the Yukon Hospital Corp., said things at Whitehorse General Hospital ran smoothly.

The outage caused a minor problem with the hospital lab's computer system which was fixed, she said.

EMS was sent to knock on the door of one doctor who was needed overnight, she said.

Community Services Minister Elaine Taylor said she is pleased with the way the situation was handled.

"This reminds us of the importance of emergency preparedness,” she said. "I think, given the circumstances, everyone did their very best.”