Severed CenturyLink fiber repaired; 2nd outage over
(Update: Repairs completed around 1 a.m.; 2nd outage repaired late Tuesday)
Up to 1,500 CenturyLink customers in the Sisters-Black Butte Ranch area and parts of Redmond lost phone service — including 911 — as well as Internet and some cellphone service all day Monday due to a severed fiber-optic cable between Sisters and Redmond, an official said.
The outage, caused by an unrelated contractor, was reported after 9 a.m. and technicians were on site working to restore service, according to Kerry Zimmer, Western marketing and public relations manager for the utility.
Due to the location of the fiber, Zimmer initially said it could take until 8 p.m. for all customers to get service restored.
But “apparently, the fiber was pretty well buried under some rocks,” Zimmer said Monday night. “It should be completely restored by 11 (p.m.) — we’re hoping for sooner.”
A post around 11:30 p.m. said repair work was continuing and some services were beginning to be restored. “Techs will work 24/7 until all services are fully restored,” the tweet said.
Zimmer said all service was restored by shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
CenturyLink reported later another problem in the Bend-Sisters area affecting about 1,400 customers but said it was resolved Tuesday evening. Zimmer said there was a new problem with a fiber cable that was repaired.
Updates can be found at CenturyLink’s Oregon Twitter page.
Earlier Monday, Zimmer told NewsChannel 21, “Customers unable to contact 911 should go to the nearest hospital, fire or police station.”
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office sent an alert to affected residents, as well as posts to the agency’s Facebook page and Twitter feed, Sgt. William Bailey said.
By mid-afternoon, Deschutes County 911 deployed call-takers to Black Butte Ranch and Sisters and worked with CenturyLink techs to forward affected 911 lines to a functioning one. But Zimmer said land lines and some cell services still were unable to call 911.
