Published: March 17, 2008 08:17 pm         

Blaze downs Internet, curtails business

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — An early morning fire knocked out Internet service in Mercer and McDowell counties Monday, leaving thousands of web surfers without the information links they use daily.

The fire was reported 3:48 a.m. at 624 High Street, said Chief Tony Hodges of the Bluefield Fire Department.

“It was a two-story structure,” Hodges said. “It was a vacant house that was condemned to be torn down. We feel the fire was probably set. There was no electricity in it.”

The old home’s condition made it too dangerous to enter, so fire fighters, directed by Capt. Robert Vest, focused on controlling the blaze so it wouldn’t damage neighboring structures, Hodges said. However, the heat, reaching up to 1,500 degrees, damaged nearby power lines and fiber optic cables.

Kevin Compton, a local manager for Frontier, said the fire melted the fiber optic cable that serves as a “backbone” for Frontier and other Internet providers. Frontier customers in both Mercer and McDowell counties were left without service.

Internet service was restored to some areas at approximately 8 p.m.

Frontier and American Electric Power employees were working together to restore service, Compton said.

Lack of Internet access hindered businesses across the region.

At the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, the loss delayed the placement of classified advertisements.

“We apologize for any inconvenience due to technical problems,” Classified Manager Teresa Dye said. “The classified pages in today’s edition are the same ones as Monday, March 17.”

The classified department’s operating systems do not work without Internet access, Dye said. Ads could not be accepted.

“We hope to be back on schedule and have everything back to normal for Wednesday’s edition,” Dye said.

Businesses had to resort to fax machines for transactions normally handled online.

“Here it had a big impact,” Frances Colley, office manager for Cole Chevrolet-Cadillac, Inc. in Bluefield said. “We couldn’t do our daily business with GMAC because we do all that through the Internet. We had to resort to antiquated fax.”

Even funeral homes had to adjust.

“I haven’t been able to get on the Internet and I’ve been unable to send obituaries by e-mail,” said Mike Brown, an apprentice at Fanning Funeral Home in McDowell County. “I sent everything by fax.” He had to deliver some photographs himself.

Keith Circle, executive assistant at the Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce, said he was unable to access the Internet at his Athens home or at his office in Princeton.

“As far as I know, most everything in Princeton is out,” Circle said.

Approximately 700 AEP customers in the Bland Street area lost electricity from 5 to 5:25 a.m., AEP spokesman Phil Moye said.



Greg Jordan writes for the Bluefield (W.Va.) Daily Telegraph.