Verizon hopes to restore service by tonight

Published 12:53 pm Thursday, December 24, 2009

WINDSOR—All Verizon landline communications affected by the fire at a switching station in Windsor on Tuesday were expected to be working again by Thursday evening.

Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell said Thursday morning that the company had been working non-stop since the outage occurred to restore service to the affected areas.

“Our people have been working around the clock to assess the damage and bring in temporary equipment to bring people back online,” he said. The temporary switching equipment will help Verizon provide landline communications service while permanent restoration is taking place.

The Tuesday morning fire started after a Dominion Virginia Power cable fell on to a copper communications cable near the Church Street switching station.

Mitchell said about 1,570 lines are serviced by the Windsor station. The fire initially affected customers in the Wakefield area and parts of Suffolk, Franklin and Southampton County. However, landline service was restored to most customers in those areas by Wednesday morning, Verizon officials said.