Fire knocks out Cheney PD, city communications

A small fire at Eastern Washington University knocked out phone communications to the Cheney Police Department and other city departments and services early Monday evening, Aug. 31.

Police Chief John Hensley said a contractor was cutting concrete in a utility tunnel on Eastern's campus when flying sparks ignited a small fire. The fire burned through insulation in communications wiring in the tunnel and severed the fiber optic cable serving the city.

Cheney Police are currently in contact with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, and are rerouting 9-1-1 calls to a console with county dispatch. These calls will be then forwarded back to Cheney dispatch's emergency cellphone system and to a responding officer.

Hensley said the department's business line, 535-9233, is still operational. However all other connections to city departments and services such as online bill pay and inquiries are down. Hensley did not have an estimated time for these services to be restored, but said it might not be until later this week.

UPDATE - Cheney Police Department Cmdr. Rick Campbell said at approximately 9:10 p.m. that a city utility crew was onsite at EWU with a crew from the city's fiber optic contractor. The crews were successful in restoring service to the Police Department's dispatch center, enabling residents to call for regular police or emergency service without having to be routed through the Spokane County Sheriff's Office dispatch system first.

However, while Cheney PD has connectivity for incoming calls, the department does not have the ability currently to access other outside data systems. For instance, if an officer needed to run an ID background check, or a license plate number, they would not be able to access the needed systems such as with the Washington State Patrol to do so.

"They (residents) can still get police services," Campbell reiterated.

The department's backup systems are functioning at this time, but if those should go down as well, Campbell said dispatchers would need to relocate to other call centers within the county.

About 70 feet of cable burned in the small fire, and crews will likely need to pull roughly 1,200 feet to fix the problem and restore regular system capabilities.

"(It) may be out for a considerable period of time," Campbell said.

UPDATE - According to city of Cheney and Eastern Washington University officials, temporary communications are being established. The fire severed fire control and energy management systems to several EWU buildings, but officials there said those links should be restored late today.

Cheney police communications have been restored both emergency and non-emergency. A number has been posted on the city's website for a cellphone connection in the Finance Department, 498-9209. Department personnel can take messages and forward those to other city departments.

Cheney and EWU officials hope to have a temporary hookup for city communications established sometime Wednesday. A permanent fix to the situation will take longer. See this week's Cheney Free Press for the complete story.

UPDATE - As of late Tuesday night, Police Chief John Hensley said in a text message that 911 service and the city's phone system had been restored. It was anticipated that Internet service would also be restored sometime Wednesday morning.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.