Fiber line vandalism cuts phone and internet for thousands

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. (KTVU) -- A massive communications outage caused by vandals cutting an AT&T fiber line Thursday is affecting tens of thousands of people in five Northern California counties.

State Senator Mike McGuire who represents the region, described it as "catastrophic." AT&T says an act of vandalism is the cause.

911 service has been disrupted and tens of thousands of people have no phone or internet service.

AT&T says a fiber line in a rural area filled with vineyards in Mendocino County was deliberately cut by someone Thursday.

KTVU spoke with FBI before AT&T determined it was an act of vandalism.

"The FBI is interested in tracking something that appears to be intentional sabotage," said FBI spokeswoman Michele Ernst.

Senator McGuire says the counties affected are a small part of northern Sonoma County, southern Lake County and all of Humboldt, Mendocino and Del Norte counties.

This means no phone service -- on either cell phones or land lines -- and no internet.

"It's put the public safety at risk. It's also impacted the day to day lives. Credit card transactions in many retail outlets, grocery stores, department stores, small mom and pop gas stations. In many cases are not going through. This has impacted hospitals, schools," said State Senator McGuire.

AT&T is the largest of several carriers affected. In a written statement, the company said in part, "We are making progress on repairing the damage. Vandalism is a serious matter that affects public safety and the community at large."

Here in the Bay Area, there's been a series of 14 deliberate attacks on fiber lines in the past year. It raises the question whether this latest act of vandalism is connected.

It also points to a need for a backup fiber line in the North Coast that many urban areas have.

"There is no second line so when there is a catastrophic outage like what we've seen today...that puts the public safety at risk," said Senator McGuire.

He tells KTVU that AT&T is estimating service will be restored early Friday morning, but no exact time was given.

McGuire also says the California Office of Emergency Services is working with the counties.