Northwestel plans telecommunications outage in parts of Yukon and N.W.T. early Thursday morning

Therewill be a telecommunications outage for all Northwestel services in some Yukon and N.W.T. communities early Thursday morning, according to the Yukon government.

The outage, which is because of "critical maintenance," will take place from midnight until 5 a.m. Thursday, the territorysaid in a news release Wednesday.

That means 911 services will be disrupted. The territory said the RCMP will have active patrols in the affected communities.

"To report an emergency, go to your local RCMP detachment or community health centre, or flag down an emergency vehicle," the release said.

In an email to CBC, Northwestel said the maintenance "is to accommodate Yukon government construction happening on the North Klondike Highway."

Northwestel said there is a five-hour window in the early hours of the morning to conduct the work and it will be completed as quickly as possible.

All telecommunications services will be disrupted in the following areas:

• Carmacks.
• Pelly Crossing.
• Stewart Crossing.
• Mayo.
• Keno.
• Dawson City.
• Eagle Plains.
• Fort McPherson.
• Tsiigehtchic.
• Inuvik.
• Faro.
• Ross River.

Carla Bohman, an information officer with the Yukon's emergency management organization, said all cellphone and internet services will be disrupted during the outage.

Bohman said the outage will likely be shorter than five hours, but could also be longer while Northwestel does work on its fibre line.

"I think the biggest thing is just to have a plan in place, to know who to contact in the event of an emergency," Bohman said.