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From: Patrick_A_Townson@cup.portal.COM
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Hinsdale - Thursday update
Message-ID: <8805121812.1.137@cup.portal.com>
Date: 11 May 88 21:44:59 GMT
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Life goes on....

Jim Eibel, Vice President Operations for Illinois Bell announced a restoration
schedule for Hinsdale at a press conference on Thursday. While the news was
not pleasant, it probably is realistic. Until now, IBT had responded to
inquiries about service restoration by saying, 'in a few days'.

The switch has been abandoned. Due to extensive corrosion from the water
damage the night of the fire, the switch cannot be salvaged. Replacement will
take 10-14 days of technicians working around the clock. Residents of Hinsdale,
Clarendon Hills, Darien and Oak Brook who have no service should not expect
to have service restored until *near the end of the month*.  About 35,000
subscribers, representing a population of 100,000 people in those communities
will continue to use the emergency communication trailers set up about town
until further notice.

Most emergency requirements in the area have been met by rerouting through
the LaGrange, IL center. Emergency service for hospitals, police and fire
agencies and certain other government agencies is in place now, or will be
by the evening of May 15.

The long distance toll center operation at Hinsdale has been rerouted to
other centers for the most part, and residents of the several south suburban
communities who have been only able to make strictly local calls for the past
week will have their full service restored by May 15, albeit under somewhat
cramped network facilities.

Pagers, beepers, cellular service and similar functions are largely restored
and the restoration will be complete by the evening of May 15. Again, some
network congestion is to be expected for at least a couple weeks until the
Hinsdale office is fully operational once again.

WAS THE DAMAGE INTENSIFIED BY IMPROPER EMERGENCY HANDLING?

The [Chicago Sun Times] for Thursday, May 12 reported an interview with an
'unnamed executive of Bell' who gave a somewhat different accounting of the
tragic events last Sunday.

According to this source, the fire was first noted in Springfield, IL, when
an emergency alarm was automatically tripped by the Hinsdale office. This
was about 4:30 PM. A human being in Springfield called the duty supervisor
for Hinsdale to ask what was going on. According to the newspaper report,
by the time office personnell got around to calling the Fire Department,
*the lines had already burned out* -- making the call impossible. A supervisor
stuck his head out the door at a minute or two before 5 PM and told a passer
by to please go to the Fire Department immediatly. Apparently the person did
not do so. Finally someone -- as yet unknown or unnamed -- went to the police
station in Hinsdale to report the fire at about 5:15 PM...by that time, the
phones throughout the area had already been dead for half an hour. If this
report is true, then there need to be some very serious discussions at
corporate level to find out why local employees discovered the fire *after*
someone downstate manning a computer terminal, and why it took another 45
minutes for someone to go to the Fire Department personally if necessary,
to rouse the firemen.

Bell executives would not comment on the [Sun Times] report.

For most intents and purposes then, the word is that network services for
the greater Chicago area will be restored in total by Sunday evening. Local
residents will be brought up gradually over the next 10-14 days as the new
switch is installed.

Updates can be heard on the Illinois Bell Communicator: 312-368-8000