Fiber Optic Line Cut Leaves Thousands Unable To Dial 911

FRENCH CAMP (CBS13) — Thousands of people were unable to dial 911 after a fiber optic line was cut in French Camp.

The damaged cable affected AT&T Verizon customers in a large area in parts of Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.

Investigators say someone intentionally cut the underground fiber optic cables.

Crews spent the morning trying to repair damages to the lines that affected both landline and cellular customers.

"We used to receive the bulk of the numbers from landline phones, now two-thirds of the calls come in from cellular phones," said Cheryl Carpenter with the Ceres Police Department.

The 911 supervisor for Ceres says that's a major problem if people can't get help when they need it on their cellphone. So far, she says the outage hasn't caused any delays in police or emergency service in Ceres.

"It appears so, but we won't know the full impact until people say hey I couldn't get through and didn't know where to dial," she said.

Police posted info on its Facebook page encouraging people to get to a landline or call a 10-digit number for emergency services.

The sheriff's office says it's following leads on who may have cut the lines.