HASTINGS COUNTY: Interruption lasted 12 hours (A.R.E.S.)

No 911 calls missed, director says

HASTINGS COUNTY: Interruption lasted 12 hours

By W. BRICE MCVICAR The Intelligencer

Posted 2 days ago

Good internal communication saved the day when external communication broke down, said the man leading emergency measures in Hastings County.

Despite hours without phone service in a huge portion of Hastings County, there were no 911 calls missed during last week’s service interruption.

Doug Socha, chief of Hastings Quinte Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and director for Emergency Services, provided Hastings County council with a brief overview of last week’s telephone service interruption which left residences and businesses north of Highway 401 without service.

That lack of service meant residents could not use their phones to contact emergency services. But, despite the outage stretching over more than 12 hours, Socha said he has yet to hear of any calls missed.

“I haven’t been made aware of any missed 911 calls during that outage,” Socha said.

The incident began Feb. 16 when a fibre optic phone line was severed by workers near the intersection of Maitland Drive and Highway 62. It wasn’t until 11 p.m., Socha said, that Bell Canada had fully restored service.

In the interim, emergency services in the region pulled together to ensure residents’ safety was not threatened and, in an emergency, responders could be reached.

“We always had radio communication between all emergency services. At no time did we have any lack of communication in that regard. The issue was access to calling 911,” Socha told council members.

In a bid to mitigate any threats to safety, police stations, fire halls and ambulance headquarters in the area were “fully staffed” and social media and local media were used to let residents know if they could not contact 911 to travel to their local fire hall or police station in the event they needed emergency services.

Socha said, in addition, “amateur radio operators” were put in “key locations” to ensure communication flow continued and the public could alert emergency responders if they were needed.

Hastings County warden Terry Clemens congratulated Socha and his staff on the way the issue was managed and thanked him for the efficiency.

“We like to get practised up and that’s what you’re doing,” Clemens said, adding being prepared for emergencies of any scale is integral in community safety across the county.

bmcvicar@intelligencer.ca