Cut cables disrupt S.F.’s 911 service

Construction projects damaged CenturyLink fiber-optic cables Tuesday morning, taking down phone service at Santa Fe’s 911 emergency dispatch center and causing problems with phone and computer systems at other public safety facilities on the south side.

Ken Martinez, director of the Regional Emergency Communications Center off N.M. 14, said employees discovered phones weren’t working properly around 8:30 a.m. They immediately rerouted 911 calls through the Sandoval County dispatch center, Martinez said, and sent some of their staff to Sandoval County to help answer calls. Emergencies were then relayed to operators at the communications center on Camino Justicia to dispatch first responders.

The issue caused some inconvenience, Martinez said, but no major delays for emergency calls.

“It doesn’t cause that big of a delay, but in my opinion, any delay is a bad delay,” he said.

“It was the first major outage the [communications center] has seen in the 13 years I’ve been there,” Martinez said, “Knock on wood.”

Kristine Mihelcic, Santa Fe County spokeswoman, said the sheriff ’s office and the county fire department administration — both of which share the same building as the communications center — and the nearby Santa Fe County jail all had issues with their phone and computer systems throughout the day.

The county said fiber-optic lines were cut about four miles south of the CenturyLink Santa Fe Southwest Central Office, east of Cerrillos Road.

Mihelcic said in an email that CenturyLink estimated a repair time Tuesday night.