Much of Calhoun County was without Internet on Sunday evening and through much of the night because of a Liberty Hill Vehicle Fire. The Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Department responded to 3324 Arnoldsburg Road, after three tones for Arnoldsburg VFD resulted in no availability of their members. Roane County also responded, but due to the length of time, the heat damaged the fiber optic lines creating an outage for land line phones and internet.
It was ironic that almost at the same time Cell phone Service in many location across the United States went out. It is said that it may have been a solar flair, but the timing was terrible for those needing communication.
Ridgeview News spoke with Calhoun OES Director Kelli Barr about the incident with concern for 911 calls. Kelli stated that the 911 system was not affected from the stand point of receiving calls, but depending upon where someone was located, they possibly would not have had the ability to call in an emergency.
Traffic was delayed in both 33/119 lanes for a considerable amount of time creating issues for fire department members, WV State Police and the Calhoun County Sheriff Department.
