Severed Cable Disrupts Long-Distance Service

Sat., Sept. 7, 1996

From Staff And Wire Reports

Long-distance telephone service in Eastern Washington was disrupted for about five hours Friday when someone sliced through a cable, US West officials said.

The fiber-optic cable was cut by someone digging in a rural area about five miles west of Lind, said Harry Grandstrom, spokesman for US West in Seattle.

“This particular fiber trunk carries all long-distance traffic and heads to Yakima,” Grandstrom said.

Whoever damaged the cable fled the scene about 70 miles southwest of Spokane, he said. Such cables usually are buried about 3 feet deep.

Service was disrupted at about 2:30 p.m. in Spokane, Moses Lake, Ephrata, Othello, Ellensburg, Royal City and points between, Grandstrom said. Those areas were hardest hit.

A repair team sent from Spokane spliced the section of broken cable back together, and full service was restored at 7:40 p.m., Grandstrom said.

, DataTimes

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