Exchange fire hits phone and net service
PHONE and internet services were restored to most people the day after a fire cut the connection for huge numbers overnight.
A massive blaze ripped through a ground floor plant room at the BT exchange in Deiniol Road, Bangor, on Thursday afternoon – sparking outages across North Wales.
People were warned they would be unable to make 999 calls on landlines as fire crews battled to bring the fire under control.
Four fire engines attended and the blaze, suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault, was dealt with by around 8pm.
Nearby roads were closed for several hours and a cordon set up to prevent pedestrian access, while workers in the building, including some 999 operators, had to be evacuated. The fire service said 999 call handlers were able to return safely to non-affected areas of the building after crews brought the fire under control.
On Friday, BT said most people had had phone and broadband services returned.
A BT Group spokesperson said: “A fire started last night at our Bangor building which was quickly extinguished by the fire service. “Thankfully, no one was hurt. “Almost all landlines have been restored by engineers who have worked through the night.
“There’s no impact to mobile services or fibre broadband, which accounts for most customers, and a very small number of remaining broadband customers should be reconnected soon. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”
The outage affected huge swathes of North Wales, with people from Anglesey to Flintshire reporting connection problems.
Last year the building had a full refit as part of a major modernisation programme.