TRURO – A major telephone outage was reported on the outer Cape. Around mid-morning Sunday Verizon cellphones stopped working in the Provincetown, Truro and parts of Wellfleet. Public safety agencies were also having trouble communicating on their 800 Mhz radio system which is fed by phone lines to the Truro tower. Other carriers were also experiencing sporadic issues. Some 911 calls were being reroute to alternate locations for processing. Some landlines were also affected with recordings advising the call could not be completed. The trouble was located on Route 6 in Wellfleet near Pamet Point Road where trees tangled in the wires apparently sparked a fire early Sunday morning that apparently melted a section of fiber-optic cable. It was unclear if the 60 MPH winds from Dorian on Saturday may have contributed to the problem. Service appeared to be coming back late Sunday afternoon.

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Fiber-optic fire knocks out phone service Wellfleet, MA 090819 from Cape Wide News LLC on Vimeo.

Cape Wide News recalls another similar incident in the same location some years ago.