SAN CLEMENTE : Phone Service Out for Several Hours

Pacific Bell telephone service in local prefixes, including the 911 line to the San Clemente Police Department, was out for several hours Wednesday after a momentary power failure in the San Juan Capistrano Pacific Bell office.

There was no service in local prefixes for about seven hours. Although the 911 line was shut down for about four hours, no emergency calls were lost, said Officer Bill Davis, a police dispatcher.

“It was really an annoyance for us more than anything,” Davis said. “All our calls were rerouted through the Laguna Beach police. There is no indication that any calls were missed.”

Old equipment that was being replaced in the Pacific Bell office fell onto telephone line equipment shortly after 10 a.m., causing a momentary power failure in the telephone center, said Linda Bonniksen, a Pacific Bell spokeswoman. When power was restored, several fuses blew in different locations.

“After that, we didn’t have enough facilities to handle all the calls going in or out,” Bonniksen said.

Most of the problems were cleared up by 5 p.m. and telephone company officials had expected to restore service completely by 7 p.m.

“We tell callers to listen for a dial tone and, if they did not get one, to hang up and try again in a few minutes,” Bonniksen said. “The worst thing someone can do is to tap the phone buttons like you see in movies. That just sends a distress signal, which actually doesn’t help at all.”

Callers who were affected included the 492, 498, 366 and 361 prefixes.