Emergency calls halted by wet cable Monday, November 27, 2000 By NANCY H. GONTER HOLYOKE — The Fire Department's telephones were shut down for most of the day yesterday, forcing fire officials to use cellular phones and other devices for communication. While the phones were out, firefighters responded to an apartment block at 177 Sargeant St. where more than 35 people were evacuated for three hours because of gasoline fumes in the building. The details of the telephone outage were unclear yesterday afternoon. Fire officials said the outage started at 9:30 a.m., while Michael L. Pequignot, a spokesman for Verizon which provides local phone service, said the first complaints came in at 11:45 a.m. Police said 500 customers were affected, but Pequignot said only 36 complaints had been called in. More than 800 customers could have been affected, he said. The outage affected customers between downtown and Taylor Street, near the Stop and Shop supermarket on Lincoln Street, officials said. The problem was a wet cable in a manhole at Dwight and Elm Streets. Verizon workers were pumping out the manhole and drying out the wires yesterday and hoped to have most service restored last night, Pequignot said. Fire Chief David A. LaFond said the outage affected not only telephone lines to the Maple Street headquarters, but radio communications as well. Most people who called into the fire station until mid-afternoon received a busy signal. Later in the day, calls were rerouted through a North Andover Verizon facility to a cellular telephone in fire headquarters, LaFond said. Emergency calls that came in through 911 were received by police who were not having telephone problems. A fiber optic "intercom" link between police and fire headquarters that was installed about a year ago was used for communication, LaFond said. Because the radio system used by the Fire Department relies on telephone lines, there was a lot of interference in communications, LaFond said. A backup system would have been used if a large-scale emergency had occurred, he said. Meanwhile, Deputy Fire Chief William D. Moran said firefighters were called to 177 Sargeant St. after water backed up through two toilets and a bathtub on the first floor of the building. After the backup, gasoline fumes filled the building and residents were evacuated. At first it appeared as though the residents of the nine-unit apartment building would have to leave the building for the night; however, gasoline fumes began to dissipate after a plumber unclogged a sewer line coming from the building, Moran said. Deputy Fire Chief Robert E. Swan said officials believe someone might have used gasoline to clean clogged pipes. Firefighters ventilated the building and residents were allowed to return to their apartments after three hours. © 2000 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission.