Cut Cable Knocks Out Long-Distance, 911 Calls

Wed., Oct. 8, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

A severed US West Communications cable between Moses Lake and Warden cut long-distance and 911 service to 36,000 lines in Grant and Okanogan counties Tuesday, a phone company spokeswoman said.

JoAnn Ficca said crews rerouted 911 service after two hours. Long-distance service was restored after five hours, she said.

In the meantime, local calls went through, but no calls went into or out of the affected area.

The damage was caused by a farmer who had apparently contacted US West to find out the location of its lines.

Ficca said the route of the company’s copper lines was correctly indicated, but there may have been some miscommunication involving location of the fiber cable.

Area radio stations, notified of the outage, broadcast instructions on how to reach help if needed.

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