Sabotage investigation of fiber cuts in Northwest

Mon Nov 3 20:32:19 UTC 2003

The Qwest CO in downtown Bellingham WA has a large microwave drum aimed at 
Orcas Island in the San Juans.  The Qwest tower on Orcas has line of site, 
and what appears to be microwave DS3 rigs aimed at both Anacortes and 
Friday Harbor.  Friday Harbor has a spur of the fiber line (SOUTH of the 
cut) connecting it to Everett and Seattle.

Now I'm no wireless wizard, or Qwest engineer, but it wouldn't be terribly 
difficult to route 911-destined calls via microwave to the 911 call center.

Whatcom County, which had its 911 service knocked out due to the fiber cut 
does not have a local 911 emergency operations center.  911 calls are 
routed to somewhere in Snohomish county, approximately 55 miles south on I-5.

>If a single fiber cut takes them out, it's not _just_ Qwest's fault.