Font Resize
LAS CRUCES - Somebody has some serious explaining to do.
Sandy Jones, a member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC), said Wednesday that an investigation has started into determining who was responsible for a widespread telephone and Internet outage Tuesday that left about 95,000 Qwest customers without communications - particularly emergency, or 911, access - for more than three hours throughout much of southern New Mexico but as long as five hours in other locales. Jones said the probe into details of the major communications failure was "automatic."
Also, Qwest officials have been asked to make a presentation at today's commission meeting, in Santa Fe, to explain how not one, not two, but three fiber-optic cable lines could have been cut.
"Clearly, an error was made, either by the company, or the excavator," said Jones, whose District 5 encompasses southwest New Mexico, including Do-a Ana County. "Whoever is responsible for the error could be facing fines ... and those fines can be pretty hefty, in the tens of thousands of dollars."
3 lines, 3 cuts
Jones said he was perplexed how communications services to a large number of homes, businesses, hospitals, and public safety agencies could have been so severely compromised when the three cuts in fiber-optic cables occurred on the very same day.
"I spoke to Qwest (Wednesday) morning and was told that to the best of their knowledge this was only the second time something like this has
Permits are required before excavation begins at any construction site in New Mexico. Those permits are issued by the PRC, but Jones said it appears requirements in obtaining those permits might not have been properly followed.
"An excavator needs to get a permit before any digging starts," Jones said. "Those permits are good for five days. If they do any excavating before or after that five days, that would be a violation.
"A company who has utility lines on a property where construction is going to occur is required to go out there and identify where their lines are, so situations like this are prevented. We're going to find out who was responsible."
Jones said a PRC inspector was able to determine Wednesday that fiber-optic cables severed at a construction site about 18 miles south of Socorro where the Army Corps of Engineers was working. Private construction companies were apparently working at sites in Tijeras and Clovis, but Jones did not immediately know who those companies were.
ER plan needs review
City Manager Terrence Moore said Tuesday's outage has prompted city and county officials to consider review and revisions of the county's Emergency Management Plan, after it was discovered that the backup emergency dispatch system, at the New Mexico State Police Communication Center in southeast Las Cruces, had also lost telephone and Internet service.
"I'd wholeheartedly agree with review of the plan," said Hugo Costa, director of Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority, the county's primary public safety answering point, or more commonly known as 911 dispatch center. "The lessons learned from this were excellent. All things considered, we were able to move quickly to provide emergency dispatch service, but, admittedly, there was a little frustration on our part that we had to resort to establishing four alternative telephone lines where people could call for emergency services."
Costa added the failure of MVRDA's backup emergency dispatch system could have been catastrophic, but he was encouraged that multiple public safety agencies throughout the county were quickly able to coordinate additional contingency plans.
'Worst-case scenario'
Jones said contingencies to provide additional levels of communication capabilities for emergency dispatch systems could be considered, but there would have to be a lot careful examination and scrutiny before creating any more plans.
"At some point, the hard questions would have to be asked, and answered, about whether to create another ring of contingencies and what the associated costs would be," Jones said. "For anything else that's added, you're probably looking at a cost of at least a million dollars, or more. And, then the questions would be do we want to spend that kind of money, and can the added expense be justified."
But Costa is convinced Tuesday's outage underscores the need for additional safeguards.
"This was a worst-case scenario, and it left us with the effects of what a total catastrophic failure could be like."
Costa added that a report of Tuesday's outage will be presented to the Do-a Ana County Board of Commissioners in early January.
Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452.
Text alerts
•Want the latest text alerts on law enforcement, public safety and emergency situations? Go to www.nixle.com and follow the registration instructions.
•Nixle's registration process is simple, but directions need to be followed carefully to specify what type of information There is no cost to sign up for the text alerts.
•It is recommended that Las Cruces and Do-a Ana County residents sign up to receive all "Community Messages," "Advisories," and "Alerts" when prompted during registration.
•For information on how to create a personal preparedness kit, go to: www.ready.gov. Information in Spanish is available at www.listo.gov.
Hello ... anybody there?
•As many as 95,000 Qwest customers were affected Tuesday by a massive telephone and Internet outage.
•Seven southern New Mexico counties - Do-a Ana, Luna, Grant, Otero, Sierra, Chaves and Eddy - were particularly affected.
•Fiber-optic cables, each with multiple transmission lines, were cut in three locations: about 18 miles south of Socorro, near Tijeras, and near Clovis.
•Most homes and businesses in southern New Mexico were without telephone or Internet service for more than three hours Tuesday afternoon and evening, and some were without phone and Internet for about five hours.
•The massive outage also seriously affected the ability for people to call 911.
•Not only did the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority's emergency dispatch system go down, so did a backup system at the New Mexico State Police Communications Center, also in Las Cruces.
•An investigation by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission began Wednesday, and officials with Qwest have been summoned today to Santa Fe by the PRC to explain how the failure happened.
•Fines in the tens of thousands of dollars could be assessed by the PRC on those found to be responsible for causing the massive outage.
Crunching numbers
A time line of events and a by-the-numbers look at Tuesday's massive communications outage across southern New Mexico.
(All times are approximate)
•10 a.m. - Twelve Qwest Communications fiber-optic cable lines were cut at a construction site about 18 miles south of Socorro. Redundant lines allowed 911 emergency service to continue despite the incident, but there were some intermittent outages reported.
•3:30 p.m. - Redundant fiber-optic lines were cut at a different, unrelated construction site near Tijeras, which is south and east of Albuquerque. That cut interrupted calls to at least 36 emergency dispatch centers in New Mexico, and •12 in Arizona.
Unknown: Another line was cut near Clovis at an undetermined time.
•4 p.m. - Thousands of homes and businesses were without telephone and Internet service. There was little or no Internet access, businesses could not handle credit or debit card transactions, and some automated teller machines could not be used. Some cellular telephone companies began experiencing spotty service or complete outages.
•5 p.m. The Do-a Ana County Emergency Operations Center was activated and four alternate telephone lines for emergency calls were established. Additional Las Cruces police were put on patrol to mitigate any potential problems.
•7:05 p.m. - Fiber optic cable lines in Socorro are repaired by Qwest and telephone and e-mail service gradually begins to return.
7:35 p.m. - Internet service is gradually restored, but there are still some reports of spotty 911 service.
•7:45 p.m. - The resumption of emergency calls begins at the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority (MVRDA).
•9:30 p.m. - Testing to ensure the reliability of MVRDA's emergency communications system is completed and the dispatch center is fully operational again. Telephone, e-mail and Internet service nearly every affected residence and business has been restored.
Midnight - Repair to redundant fiber-optic lines in Tijeras were completed.
Source: Do-a Ana County Office of Emergency Management
By the numbers
•3: Separate incidents Tuesday where fiber-optic cables were cuts. The cuts happened south of Socorro, in Tijeras, and near Clovis.
•12: Qwest Communications fiber-optic lines that were cut near Socorro.
•6: Southern New Mexico counties that were affected by the communications outage included Do-a Ana, Luna, Grant, Otero, Chaves and Eddy counties. Outages were also reported in Lincoln County.
•4: The number of temporary telephone lines established for 911 calls by the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority during the outage.
•3-plus: The number of hours the outage lasted Tuesday.
95,000: Qwest customers in southern New Mexico who were affected by the outage.
