After damage to AT&T fiber and copper lines disrupted several critical Oakland communications systems from Wednesday night into Friday morning, questions remain about how the city’s 911 system failed — and whether it could happen again.
“Why is this so easy [to] access to [the] public,” asked @aludeurquiza on Instagram.
“Isn’t something this sensitive supposed to be protected in some way,” asked @streldunn.
“How will this be prevented in the future? It is absolutely unacceptable how long this took to be resolved,” said @garrettnoodle.
AT&T told NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit that damage to fiber and copper lines Wednesday evening interrupting multiple critical Oakland systems for over 24 hours. The outage affected Oakland’s 911 and non-emergency phone lines, the Fire Department’s 911 system and internet and computer-aided dispatch software at OPD’s dispatch center. All services were back to normal Friday morning around 8:30 a.m., according to police.
One of the first questions asked during a police press conference on Thursday: What happened to the systems’ backup plans?
“Regards to the 911 line, we do have some fallback plans,” Oakland Police Chief James Beere said during a press conference on Thursday. “Unfortunately, both the initial fallback plans were compromised…so we had to fall back on our outside partner, which is the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department.”
Beere offered this insight on Thursday, but the police department declined the Investigative Unit’s request for an interview on Friday to ask additional questions. The department cited the active investigation.
Questions remain about why both fallback systems failed and whether the affected AT&T lines should have been better protected. The chief suggested that the damage may have involved more than an attempt to steal copper wiring.
“I would say this is more of a bad actor than vandalism, particularly just because there’s more than one line and the amount of damage that was done,” he said on Thursday.
During the outage, 911 calls in Oakland were routed to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and OPD said officers would only respond to Priority 1 calls, including incidents involving violence or immediate threat to life or serious injury.
NBC Bay Area asked disaster experts what might have happened if a major earthquake had struck while Oakland’s communications systems were down. They said it could look a lot like Thursday, only worse.
“We tell people not to expect to be even able to make a phone call,” said Mark Benthien with the Statewide California Earthquake Center.
Benthien and Angie Lux with the Berkeley Seismology Laboratory said if a major earthquake triggered severe damage, communications systems could be down for days even weeks – similar to what happened in Oakland but on a larger scale.
“To be honest, [this was] terrible, but it’s a good preparation for what could be a reality following a major earthquake,” Lux said.
“This is also emphasizing the importance of community preparedness,” Benthien said. “So, knowing your neighbors, knowing the resources in your community, like on your block.”
For information on how to be prepared before, during and after a major earthquake: www.EarthquakeCountry.org.
Candice Nguyen is the Senior Investigative Reporter on this story. If you have a comment or a question, email her at candice.nguyen@nbcuni.com.
