WAUPACA, Wis. (WSAU) — For nearly 24 hours, the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office and courthouse were unable to make or receive any phone calls through their landlines.
Phone service first went down on Tuesday morning around 8 a.m. Connectivity was in and out all day until just before 4 p.m. when service was completely lost until repairs were made Wednesday afternoon.
Captain of Communications Robert Karski says that a phone cable was damaged over time by branches from a tree near a telephone pole.
He said, “The branches rubbed through the wiring and actually caused a short on the tube of wires coming in through the Sheriff’s office and the courthouse. Since then it’s been repaired, and we’re all back up and running again.”
Karski said the repairs that were made should be strong enough to prevent future service interruptions. Tuesday night, the department was able to forward all seven of their phone lines to one cell phone until repairs could be made.
“It did create an inconvenience for our dispatchers and for me because we were worried that if we had anything major come through, like the storm they were predicting, that it could be a little busy, but our 911 lines are usually used a lot during those types of situations,” said Karski.
911 emergency calls were still able to be made during the interruption.
