Failed to execute CGI : Win32 Error Code = 3
Phone communication to and from Sisters, Black Butte and Camp Sherman was cut
on August 6 when a dump truck with its bed raised ripped out a fiber optic
phone line east of Sisters.
According to Hollis Lasley, Regional Manager for US West, at about 4:30 p.m. a
dump truck operated by the State of Oregon involved in repaving highway 126
between Sisters and Redmond broke the cable suspended 17 and-a-half feet above
the ground near Buckhorn Lane.
Lasley said that 2,350 accounts in Sisters were affected and 1,500 in the Camp
Sherman/Black Butte exchange.
Lasley said the good news was that an aerial cable is much easier to repair
quickly. Underground cable requires a trench that must be dug and can limit
work room.
The break that isolated the Sisters/Camp Sherman exchange took about
two hours to repair temporarily, according to Lasley. The next day, US
West made permanent repairs.
On a fiber optic cable, permanent repair involves melting the two ends of the
glass cable back together, he said. There is no loss of signal quality.
During the outage, calls could be made within the local exchange, but calls
from elsewhere could not reach the area and no calls from within the exchange
could get out, including calls to 911 Emergency Dispatch in Bend.
Lasley said there was no indication that anyone tried to reach 911 during
the outage.
In an emergency during business hours, local residents could call the local
number for the Sisters Police who then could communicate by radio, Lasley said.
Night time dispatch for Sisters Police is handled through the 911 system and
local residents would only reach a recording at Sisters Police Department.
