Dillsboro – Frontier Communications workers cut fiber wiring in Jackson County late Thursday night, preventing Cherokee County E-911 Communications from receiving 911 calls.
This was the second time in five months that the telecommunications company caused this issue for the county.
Unlike the last time Frontier cut fiber, the company emailed E-911 Communications Director Theresa Creasman to let her know there would be a fiber outage overnight as crews completed a “permanent fix” to the fiber facility along U.S. 23. Greene Morris of Frontier told Creasman that while 911 calls would be rerouted to the center’s administrative line, the “work should not affect local service subscribers and their ability to dial 911.”
“Unfortunately, once again they were wrong, and Cherokee County again fell victim to a disconnect from the outside world lasting hours,” Creasman said.
However, Creasman was prepared. She also received communications from the N.C. Department of Transportation that work was being done on the same fibers that caused an outage in October.
“I took that as a warning, so I was not surprised when we once again went dark,” Creasman said.
Those in an emergency were asked to contact 911 at 835-3144 on a landline, email 911@cherokeecounty-nc.gov or visit their closest fire station. All volunteer fire departments were manned during the outage.
The fiber cut also affected cell phone service dependent on Frontier fiber infrastructure. The repairs were made and communications restored within three hours.
Both Clay and Graham counties’ 911 communications were also affected by the fiber cut.
The last time a Frontier fiber cut affected 911 communications was overnight on Oct. 17-18, 2019. During that outage, 911 was down for Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, as well as the Qualla Boundary.
Frontier causes 2nd 911 outage
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