By Guillermo X. Garcia, San Antonio Express-News Staff
Original publication date: Dec. 6

San Marcos County, Texas — Emergency call operations in San Marcos and Hays counties were restored Saturday night after services were disrupted for nearly eight hours.

The counties restored their 9-1-1 services about 9 p.m. after a construction crew accidentally severed the fiber-optic phone line for the services at 1:15 p.m., according to Melissa Millecam, director of communications for San Marcos.

The crew was installing a water line at FM 1625 and Interstate 35 when it cut the phone line, forcing officials to reroute 9-1-1 calls, Hays County officials said, increasing response times.

Emergency calls to San Marcos police, fire and EMS, the Hays County Sheriff’s Department, rural fire departments and Texas State University were diverted to Travis County 9-1-1 dispatchers. Emergency 9-1-1 cell phone calls were routed to Guadalupe and surrounding counties until the line was restored.

The calls were transmitted through backup systems to dispatchers in the affected areas, officials said. Mobile back-up systems were set up to respond in case of a long-term service disruption.

Authorities said service to AT&T cell phones, automated teller machines and credit card machines also were affected. Most telephone landlines were not affected.

Copyright © 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy