by Lin McNulty and Margie Doyle
If you have a fire, medical, or police emergency,
1. First, dial 911 from a land line
2. Then try OIFR direct at 376-2331 from a land line
3. You can Email 911@sanjuanco.com
| UPDATE from Meg Andrews, Public Relations, CenturyLink, Nov. 10 at 11 p.m.
CenturyLink crews are working around the clock to repair the severed fiber optic cable causing a network outage impacting the San Juan Islands. CenturyLink crews, which have dedicated more than 1,000 hours, have temporarily restored local, long distance, Internet, and 911 services in partnership with OPALCO (Orcas Power and Light Cooperative).
CenturyLink has deployed resources from across the state to assist in the repair of the fiber cable, which is more than two miles in length and rests at a depth of 250 feet. CenturyLink has brought in international experts who initially helped deploy the fiber to the Islands to help pinpoint the issue. At this time, the reason for the cut is still unknown.
In addition to the on-site team, CenturyLink has brought in additional resources, including a team of expert divers, three tug boats, two remote operating vessels, and two barges. The barges, which are between the coast of Pear Point off of San Juan Island and Fisherman’s Bay located on Lopez Island, have cranes and splicing equipment.
“CenturyLink’s priority is to fully restore communications as quickly as possible,” said Tim Grigar, CenturyLink vice president and general manager for western Washington. “We appreciate our customers’ patience while we work to resolve this issue.”
About CenturyLink
CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States and is recognized as a leader in the network services market by technology industry analyst firms. The company is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprise customers. CenturyLink provides data, voice and managed services in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers for businesses and consumers. The company also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink® Prism™ TV and DIRECTV brands. Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500 company and is included among the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations.
| UPDATE from Kevin O’Brien, Chief/CEO Orcas Fire and Rescue, Sunday Nov. 10 at 11 a.m.
From the information we have as of Sunday, November, 10, 2013 at 10:30 a.m., the situation regarding telephone service in the San Juan Islands is the following:
911 service is working from land-line phones
Local and island-to-island land-line telephone service is functional
Some land-line long distance is functional
Some 911, local, and long distance service is available from cell phones
Centurylink and Opalco are continuing efforts to improve service
Due to the unstable nature of communications, we recommend the following procedure in reporting any emergency:
First, dial 911 from a land line
A cell phone may be used as well, but a land line may be more reliable
Then try calling your local fire department
Orcas- 376-2331
Lopez- 468-2991
You can Email 911@sanjuanco.com
Your Help Is Needed
We want to know of any problems encountered with telecommunications so we can get them fixed. Please go to the following link to submit any issues or problems: Click Here or go here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bduQsDwxnZhFtBWSzAv_L05lQUEykkBGJftlGGkMZI4/viewform
****Please forward any questions or issues with this form to Dave Halloran (daveh@sanjuandem.net)****
· Put your name under Account Name.
· The document automatically timestamps the date when you submit the form.
· You may add a calendar date to the Time.
· Under “Other Problem” you may write a brief explanation of the issue or miscellaneous information.
We also recommend you check on your neighbors to make sure they have this information.
(For a more detailed description of the current situation, please see the Nov. 9 press release from Stan Matthews)
| UPDATE From Kevin O’Brien, Chief/CEO Orcas Fire and Rescue at 12 noon on Saturday, Nov. 9
From the information we have as of Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 11:30 a.m., the situation regarding telephone service in the San Juan Islands is the following:
· 911 service is working from land-line phones
· Local and island-to-island land-line telephone service is functional
· Some land-line long distance is functional
· Some 911, local, and long distance service is available from cell phones
· Centurylink and Opalco are continuing efforts to improve service
Due to the unstable nature of communications, we recommend the following procedure in reporting any emergency:
1. First, dial 911 from a land line
2. A cell phone may be used as well, but a land line may be more reliable
3. Then try calling your local fire department
· Orcas- 376-2331
· Lopez- 468-2991
4. You can Email 911@sanjuanco.com
We also recommend you check on your neighbors to make sure they have this information.
| UPDATE from Brendan Cowan, Director, San Juan County Department of Emergency Management at 8 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9
CenturyLink is reporting a restoration of limited land line long distance service as of 7:45pm on 11/8. This restoration is [the] result of a temporary fix, and bandwidth is limited. Many calls may still have a hard time going through. Be patient, and try again if you are unable to connect.
Now would probably be a good time to hold off on any non-essential calls until initial rush passes.
Thanks for community’s patience.
| UPDATE from OPALCO November 7 at 5:30 p.m.)
Eastsound: CenturyLink has restored access to 911 and local inter-island phone services in San Juan County through a bypass created by splicing CenturyLink’s central office connection into OPALCO’s fiber and microwave repeaters. Internet services (DSL) are still down on San Juan Island; county-wide long distance (off island) phone service solutions are in progress.
CenturyLink reports that they continue to investigate the submarine cable failure, but weather conditions have made underwater exploration difficult. OPALCO and CenturyLink are jointly developing plans to meet the community’s needs if the CenturyLink cable repair or replacement will take more than a couple of weeks.
Kudos to the crews in the field working overnight as well as CenturyLink, public safety and OPALCO leadership who are working cooperatively to make best use of resources and coordinate quick action.
To report an outage, please call OPALCO’s outage line: 376-3599. If that doesn’t work, please call the Sheriff’s Dispatch at 378-4151. If it’s a true emergency, please call 911.
Updates will be posted on OPALCO’s website: www.opalco.com, as well as on Facebook (Orcas Power & Light Cooperative) and Twitter (@orcaspower). Please help us to spread the word for the sake of public safety.
OPALCO’s fiber service, through Island Network, delivers data communications capacity to public institutions as well as some commercial entities. There is currently a moratorium on new connections through Island Network as the Co-op goes through a comprehensive infrastructure design and review process.
OPALCO is our member-owned cooperative electric utility, powering more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County. OPALCO provides electricity that is 95% greenhouse-gas free and is generated predominantly by hydroelectric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937.
| UPDATE from Jan Kampbell of CenturyLink (5:40 p.m., Thursday, November 7)
CenturyLink crews restored 911 and local phone service between Lopez and San Juan Island last night at 11:59 P.M. 911 has been rerouted to the San Juan County Sheriff’s office in Friday Harbor. As of 4 P.M. this afternoon, CenturyLink crews have restored 911 and local phone service between Orcas and San Juan Island. 911 has been rerouted to the San Juan County Sheriff’s office in Friday Harbor as well.
CenturyLink and Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) are continuing to work together to provide temporary solutions during the restoration of the underwater fiber optic cable.
| UPDATE: from Orcas Fire and Rescue (4:40 p.m., Thursday, November 7)
At this time, it appears that on-island telephone service is functioning with on-island phone calls and 911 service. However, given the unstable service situation, OIFR recommends the following steps to report all emergencies:
- First, dial 911 from a land line
- Then try OIFR direct at 376-2331 from a land line
- You can Email 911@sanjuanco.com
We also recommend you check on your neighbors to make sure they have this information.
Thanks to the OIFR volunteers, SJC Sherriff’s Deputies and Dispatchers, OPALCO, and the many community members who have assisted during this event.
We will do our best to keep you updated.
| UPDATE: (3:32 p.m., Thursday, November 7)
As lines, cables, and wires were being hooked up to fully restore 911 service to all islands, a “system failure” was encountered, reports San Juan County’s IT/IS Manager Stan Matthews, briefly rendering most, if not all, of Orcas with no phone service.
The unexpected additional outage seems to now be resolved as 911 service is being tested and seems to be back online for all islands.
Suzanne Olson, OPALCO, advises that the priority, of course, is to re-establish 911 emergency service to all islands, which is being restored through a temporary solution, i.e., “OPALCO splicing CenturyLink into our fiber and microwave repeaters.”
| UPDATE: (12:10 p.m., Thursday, November 7)
San Juan County Sheriff’s dispatch and Orcas Fire and Rescue confirm that 911 service has been restored to Shaw and Lopez Islands. Emergency 911 service is expected to be returned to Orcas Island sometime today.
It is through the cooperation of CenturyLink and OPALCO that service is being restored as they continue to work together, splicing into OPALCO’s communication system.
In the meantime, inter-island phone service still remains out of service with no estimate on how long that may take.
| UPDATE: from CenturyLink (11:04 a.m., Thursday, November 7)
CenturyLink is working with Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) to provide a temporary solution that would restore local voice and 911 services for customers on San Juan Island, Orcas and Lopez. We will use OPALCO’s fiber cable and microwave system to connect our customers with service while we work to repair our severed cable.
A dive team is accessing the severed underwater fiber cable which is located about one mile offshore of Lopez Island. A decision will then be made whether to repair or replace the cable. We will release updates as we receive them.
Until services are restored please continue to use the following instruction in case of an emergency, residents on Lopez Island are instructed to use either their cell phones or their landlines to call Lopez Fire district at 360.468.2991 or go to the main station at 2228 Fisherman Bay Rd. in Lopez Village. Residents on Orcas Island should also use either their cell phones or landlines to call the Orcas Island Fire District at 360.376.2331 or go to the fire station located at 45 Lavender Lane, Eastsound.
| UPDATE: from Kevin Ranker (5:50 p.m., Wednesday, November 6)
It is confirmed that a deep water offshore cable was completely severed. CenturyLink has divers and an ROV (Remotely operated vehicle) on scene. The ultimate goal will be to replace the entire 14,000′ cable, but locating that length of fiber-optic cable will take time. In the mean time two more immediate actions are underway. First, CenturyLink is working with OPALCO to do a short term Ethernet fix so that our entire county would have 911 availability as soon as possible – maybe as soon as late today. Secondly, CenturyLink has identified 6,000′ of cable that could be used as a temporary fix that would give all county residents all services.
Jeff Morris, Kris Lytton and I will continue to do everything in our power to help address this crisis. To this end, last night Jeff and I had a lengthy conversation regarding what steps need to be taken to create the necessary redundancy so that when this sort of situation happens again, it does not cause a complete disruption in services. All three of us will continue this conversation.
As a final point I must add that we are all incredibly lucky to have Rep. Jeff Morris representing us. He is a national leader on energy and telecommunications. He understands the technology and industry and has decades old personal and professional relationships with key individuals. His leadership the past 24 hours has been tremendous.
| UPDATE: from Orcas Fire and Rescue (2:28 p.m., Wednesday, November 6)
Help Your Neighbors During the 911 Outage – Public Meeting Tonight
Dear Fellow Orcas Islanders,
From the information we are receiving, the 911 outage could last more than 48 hours.
We are concerned that some islanders may not be aware of the outage and we need your help to get the word out.
At 6 p.m. this evening (Wednesday, 11/6/13), a team of people from Orcas Island Fire and Rescue and other community members will begin “Operation Meet Your Neighbor” a neighborhood campaign to inform folks about the 911 outage and the need to call 376-2331 from a landline telephone for emergency assistance. We will especially be targeting seniors, disabled people, and others who may not know about the outage.
OIFR will provide instructions and informational material to be distributed in your neighborhoods.
If you would like to help us, please meet at the Eastsound Fire Hall at 6 p.m. this evening. Your help could save a life.
| UPDATE: from Senior Center (8:51 a.m., Wednesday, Nov 6 )
from Marla Johns
Due to the phone outage, those individuals who rely on Life Alert or Medic Alert type of systems need to be aware that those systems will likely not work in the event of an emergency. Most life alert systems route via the phone line to an off-island call center, making that connection impossible at present.
The Senior Center is asking that anyone who uses a personal emergency paging device please contact the Senior Center at 376-2677. We will work on a case by case basis to develop a contact plan to assist in ensuring people remain safe during this time.
| UPDATE: from CenturyLink (9:29 p.m., Tuesday, Nov 5)
from Jan Kampbell of CenturyLink
A fiber optic cable has been cut underwater between Lopez and San Juan Islands impacting CenturyLink services, including 911 services, throughout the islands. 911 services on San Juan Island have been rerouted to the local 911 center. In case of an emergency, residents on Lopez Island are instructed to use either their cell phones or their landlines to call Lopez Fire district at 360.468.2991 or go to the main station at 2228 Fisherman Bay Rd. in Lopez Village. Residents on Orcas Island should also use either their cell phones or landlines to call the Orcas Island Fire District at 360.376.2331 or go to the fire station located at 45 Lavender Lane, Eastsound.
Customers are able to access the Internet on all islands with the exception of San Juan Island.
Because of the nature of the damage it is difficult to estimate a time of restoral. CenturyLink is working to restore services as soon as possible.
| UPDATE: (4:39 p.m., Tuesday, November 5)
If you have a fire, medical, or police emergency,
call Orcas Fire and Rescue at
376-2331
Assistant Fire Chief Mik Preysz and Orcas Fire Chief Kevin O’Brien discuss the operational plan to keep emergency communications going. Photo: Lin McNulty
Wayne Rankin, a ham radio operator stationed at Orcas Fire and Rescue Station 21 received information from ham operators on the scene on Lopez that the telephone problem is believed to be the result of a severed cable underwater between Lopez and San Juan Islands. At this point in time, it is possible repairs, unofficially, may not be completed “for days.”
Officially, however, County Department of Emergency Management Dave Halloran, says there is no estimated date or time for repair.
In the meantime, as 911 continues to be out of service, Orcas Fire and Rescue is putting together their staffing plan to provide 24-hour telephone and radio coverage for any police, fire, or medical emergencies. Radio communication between OIFR and the Sheriff’s Office dispatch remains operable. It is only the phone line that is down.
Some cell phone users (Verizon, specifically) are able to make calls off island. For land lines, however, interisland phone calls are not going through. If you have CenturyLink voice mail, calls will not direct to that service. There are sporadic places throughout Orcas that are without internet connection.
In the interim, please help spread the word through friends and neighbors to call 376-2331 for any 911 emergencies until this cable is repaired.
| UPDATE FROM SJ DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (12:39 p.m., Tuesday, November 5)
Per CenturyLink, the source of the problem has been located on Center Road, Lopez, where an unknown party has apparently dug into a fiber-optic cable. They advise that a new cable is enroute from Anacortes, due to arrive on Lopez around noon; the problem is expected to be resolved at the end of the day.
Until the repairs are completed, residents on Orcas can report any emergency by calling the Eastsound Fire Station as the story says above. Residents on Lopez can report an emergency by calling the Lopez headquarters station at 468-2991. 911 calls on San Juan island are being routed correctly.
Dave Halloran
San Juan DEM
| UPDATE: (1 p.m., November 5)
The local 911 emergency lines for both cell phones and landlines is currently out of service.
If you have a fire, medical, or police emergency,
call Orcas Fire and Rescue at
376-2331
Radio communications between OIFR and the Sheriff’s Office is still working.
Updates will be posted as they become available.
Thank you, Lin for posting this. A great service.
Update from San Juan County DEM:
Per CenturyLink, the source of the problem has been located on Center Road, Lopez, where an unknown party has apparently dug into a fiber-optic cable. They advise that a new cable is enroute from Anacortes, due to arrive on Lopez around noon; the problem is expected to be resolved at the end of the day.
Until the repairs are completed, residents on Orcas can report any emergency by calling the Eastsound Fire Station as the story says above. Residents on Lopez can report an emergency by calling the Lopez headquarters station at 468-2991. 911 calls on San Juan island are being routed correctly.
Dave Halloran
San Juan DEM
Thank you, Dave, for Department of Emergency Management keeping us on top of this, since we are unable to contact you by phone.
Thanks, Dave. Timely update, the Orcesians are getting antsy.
11/5 @ 4:40pm: update from CenturyLink is that outage is due to problem with underwater cable between SJI & Lopez. No ETA for repair- but this is a significant and complicated project requirirng specialized personnel and equipment.
PLEASE help spread word on Orcas to call 376-2331 for emergencies (instead of 911). Shaw and Lopez should call 468-2991. 911 is operational on San Juan.
I think this is impacting more than 911. I am experiencing fast busy when I try to make long distance phone calls using CenturyLink LD phone service. I have tried this on both home and business lines. In addition, my T Mobile cell phone service is not processing local calls in 360 area code. They are correctly routing 800 calls. My hunch is that the T Mobile may be using CL for carrying wireless traffic too.
jay
Jay- correct. No one is able to call off of their island, or receive calls from off of their islands. Still no clear answer from CenturyLink on impacts to wireless- but we’re hearing reports of problems. May be due to overloading of towers- or maybe they were using CenturyLink fiber to route traffic.
Brendan Cowan
San Juan County Dept. of Emergency Management
It would be nice to hear from our cellular providers as well. As an AT&T subscriber, I know that we are all without any service currently. It appears some providers are fairing better than others in terms of providing service.
HEY! If anyone NEEDS to call out they can use the phone at my office. Orcas Online. It is an Internet Phone using VOIP. Limited time calls only. In a Pinch!
According to Jan Kampbell above,
“Customers are able to access the Internet on all islands with the exception of San Juan Island.” This is not true in my case; home DSL is not functioning. Thank goodness for OPALCO which installed fiber optic capacity in “community centers” such as the library, fire dept., and schools. Island service is a priority with them, not so much with CenturyLink.
For those who have micro cell towers, you may have phone access through the internet, like a VOIP. I am able to call 800 numbers and long distance with my cell phone when I am in range of my micro cell tower. I haven’t tried calling 911, but I suspect it works, but may not get me to SJC Dispatch.
I am just curious. How deep was the cable and what severed it?
Carl- report is that cable was 250′ deep. CenturyLink has checked with Coast Guard and WA State Fish & Wildlife to see if large vessel or fishing gear might have caused break. Doesn’t look likely. No cause yet, they’ll no more when they take a close look at it.
Brendan Cowan
San Juan County Dept. of Emergency Management
Communication is everything! Thanks so much for keeping us up-to-date.
All phones are down as of 3:00 PM-ish, November 7.
Amy Russell,
Where are you? We are on Double Mountain just above the village and our service through CenturyLink is working and I just called a friend in Olga whose phone is also working.
This as of 4 pm Thursday.
I am on the North Shore and our phones were out from about 3:00 to 4:00-ish. My mother is 97 and lives alone so I was concerned about her safety. I stayed with her until her service was restored around 4:00 PM. Never a dull moment on Orcas Island… :)
Redundancy is the answer here … perhaps we need to have more than one provider of fiber services, so that calls can be routed through a second fiber in these situations. I seem to recall OPALCO was working on something like this. In any case we really need a better backup plan for emergency communications to route around single points of failure.
Joy Hughes,
Re your question about redundancy. I don’t believe the problem we are dealing with is on the islands but rather between the islands.
It appears OPALCO has been quite helpful with local service but real inter-island redundancy would require a second fiber cable between the islands. Whether that is economically feasible is something that probably needs to be looked into.
But clearly it is a problem of redundancy. From what I have heard, Century Tel had no backup plan, even for the 911 system. It seems likely a problem of maintenance and lack of investment on CenturyTel’s part–although to date we have not heard what caused the cable break.
Don’t we already have two fiber cables between islands–Opalco and CenturyTel? Once the immediate problem is resolved, the age and maintenance of communication equipment upon which we are forced to rely through government awarded monopoly would be worth an analysis by our emergency team.
I believe there is only 1 fiber cable between San Juan and Lopez. OPALCO does not have fiber here.
In engineering terms, doing a single point of failure analysis could turn up other potential gotchas as well. We would need to do a cost benefit analysis to determine what needed to be fixed – what is the economic impact of the current mess, versus the cost of putting in a second cable?
Just off the phone with AT&T wireless support. They claim that the outage is projected to be repaired by 6:00 pm tomorrow.
I’m not sure if they are basing this on information from Centurylink or not, but it is what they are saying tonight with regard to their own services.
I have asked them to please release some information to the public regarding AT&T’s current planning so that we are informed.
In the interim, I encourage everyone to call 1-800-331-0500 to pressure them to provide us with ANY kind of official update.
Just to help set expectations: while it would be welcome news if AT&T were fully restored by 6pm today, I wouldn’t count on it. AT&T does have a portable unit at Fire Station in Eastsound that should provide limited coverage in immediate area.
Brendan Cowan
San Juan County Dept. of Emergency Management
Brendan,
Thanks for that. I am only passing on the limited information that AT&T customer service is providing us when we call.
The more important issue is that AT&T has remained mute through this entire event, offering no public announcement of their plan, service abilities or other information that would otherwise provide insight to their user base. I know many subscribers who have dropped their land lines in favor of an all cell service based phone system. For those on AT&T contracts as their sole provider, the issues of 911 service and basic communication remains a serious concern.
As with all things, communication is key, but AT&T has left it’s subscribers in the dark.