Phone outage hits 80,000 customers, 911 service

Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998 | 9:44 a.m.

The outage began at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday when a fiber optic cable was cut in southeast Reno, halting not only phone service, but interrupting toll-free 800 calls and the use of automatic teller machines, which depend on phone lines,

Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi said his department used cellular phones to make limited calls and set up a special number as a substitute for 911.

Reno police and the Washoe County sheriff's departments then were hit by a high number of 911 calls.

"Dispatchers were getting calls from people who were checking the line," Washoe County spokeswoman Mary Henderson said. "Some people were saying, 'If I have a heart attack tonight, I want to know if 911 is working.' "

Nevada Bell spokeswoman Joyce Twombley said phones were out in Carson City, Washoe Valley and parts of south Reno as well as areas in Storey and Lyon counties.

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