CLAY BANKS, Wis. (WFRV) – A travel trailer was deemed a complete loss by fire in Southern Door County after multiple 911 calls failed due to the ongoing Cellcom outage.
Southern Door Fire Chief Richard Olson said that the fire department was called to a travel trailer fire early on Tuesday morning, but the first several calls to 911 never went through.
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“The homeowner woke up in the middle of the night and saw his travel trailer on fire, and tried to call 911 four times on his cell phone unsuccessfully,” Chief Olson said. “He called me directly and told me the details of what was going on.”
Chief Olson said he tried to call the 911 dispatch center, but his call was also unsuccessful; fortunately, he was able to reach the dispatchers through a non-emergency number.
Fire crews were dispatched 10 minutes after initial call efforts. Crews arrived with 14 firefighters and five trucks, using about 3,000 gallons of water for about an hour to extinguish the fire.
The camper was deemed a complete and total loss, and Chief Olson said that the loss of 10 minutes may not have made a difference; however, it’s disappointing and concerning.
“We’re kind of given the assurance that 911 always works, so it’s disappointing and concerning,” Chief Olson said. “I can call some people and some people can call me, but some people can’t call each other. 911 is a number you should be able to call.”
Chief Olson said the situation needs to be fixed and that it’s critical.
“[Normally,] the coverage is great, it’s the best we have up here,” Chief Olson said. “It’s a bad situation, and I hope they [Cellcom] get to hear this story.”
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Cellcom provided a statement to Local 5 regarding the specific incident.
“We are sorry to hear about the recent camper fire incident in Algoma. There are longstanding, industry-wide federal protocols in place to protect access to 911 during any carrier-specific outage. These protocols ensure that emergency calls are rerouted through other available networks during any carrier outage. We followed those protocols in full and our systems remained in compliance since the outage began.”
Cellcom
The Cellcom outage has lasted for nearly two weeks, as it began late at night on May 14.
