Wireless outage left some bus crash responders in the dark
b missoulian.com | Posted: Thursday, January 12, 2012 6:15 am
Even as a Rimrock Stages bus went careening
out of control on icy Interstate 90 east of Missoula on Sunday morning, Verizon
Wireless engineers were scrambling to restore statewide service.
A switch in Helena that manages all voice
and data traffic on the Verizon system failed around 1 a.m. as engineers
performed routine software upgrades. Customers in Montana and parts of northern
Wyoming were without service until 7:30 a.m., according to Verizon Wireless
spokesman Bob Kelley in Denver.
The bus wreck west of Clinton that killed
two and sent dozens to Missoula hospitals occurred at roughly 7:15 a.m.
"That sucked," said Don Whalen, regional
manager of Missoula Emergency Services Inc., which staffed and sent seven
ambulance crews to the scene. "That's how we get hold of a lot of our people.
Everybody got rid of their home phones and all they have is their cellphones."
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