Fire Causes Phone, Internet Outage in Md.

Verizon Service Disruption Could Last Until Wednesday Night

Several hundred Burtonsville homes and businesses lost Verizon phone and Internet service when a utility pole fire damaged a large cable last night, a company official said.

Verizon spokeswoman Christy Reap said crews hope to restore service by Wednesday morning. However, she said, the outage could last until Wednesday evening, depending on the amount of damage.

The problem was discovered about 1:30 a.m. today when Montgomery County firefighters were called to a fire on a utility pole in the 3800 block of Sandy Spring Road, fire officials said. Reap said a power surge in a Baltimore Gas & Electric line on the pole started the fire in the Ace Hardware parking lot. But Linda Foy, a BGE spokeswoman, said the pole did not contain any BGE power lines and that the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Foy said two businesses in the area lost power because of problems with an underground BGE line nearby, although BGE officials had not yet determined if those problems were connected to the pole fire.

Reap said the speed at which phone and Internet service can be restored depends on how much damage crews find this afternoon on underground Verizon lines near the utility pole. Verizon planned to set up a phone bank for customers in the Ace Hardware parking lot this afternoon, she said. The outage did not affect cell phone service.