Worldwide tech outage affected Apache Junction school district, fire district, city

The Apache Junction Unified School District has restored its systems following a mass worldwide IT outage caused by routine software updates from CrowdStrike that affected computers running Microsoft Windows.

The software update snafu also impacted Superstition Fire and Medical District, the city of Apache Junction and the Apache Junction Police Department where there were no disruptions to essential services.

The tech outage has grounded flights, with banks and media outlets also knocked offline.

“Earlier today, AJUSD experienced a district-wide system outage due to a global update affecting all Windows machines. As of 8:30 a.m., all systems have been restored, and students will experience no interruptions in their learning. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time,” Lindsay Hansen, a spokeperson for the district, said in an email.

“We have been impacted but there are no disruptions to essential services. Fortunately our dispatch center trains for such outages,” John Whitney, Superstition Fire and Medical District fire chief, said in an email.

“The Mesa Regional Dispatch Center has created an update to our (mobile computer terminals) to correct the outage. Our 911 service is still operational,” Richard Mooney, SFMD assistant chief and fire, said in an email.

Several of the city of Apache Junction’s systems were impacted by the global IT outage, with no disruptions to essential services.

“Some components of AJPD's computer-aided dispatch were affected, but 911 and radio systems remained operational and our IT team worked diligently through the night to fully restore all functionality by approximately 2:30 a.m.,” Kayla Fulmer, the city of Apache Junction’s marketing and communications director, said in an email.

“Users may still encounter temporary issues when accessing some cloud-based systems utilized for other city platforms, such as CivicRec. However all systems that are managed by the city IT team remain up and operational. An emergency alert has been added to the top of our website to notify residents of potential issues when accessing platforms as well,” she said.

AJUSD has three elementary schools, a junior high school and a high school. The district is from Meridian Road on the west to the town of Queen Valley on the east and from the Goldfield Mountains to the north, south into the San Tan Corridor. Communities served include Apache Junction, Gold Canyon, Peralta Trail, Queen Valley and unincorporated Pinal County land in-between.

The fire district provides fire suppression, fire prevention, wildland protection, advanced life support, rescue, extrication and medical transportation services out of five fire stations in Apache Junction and Gold Canyon.