Mediacom outage blamed on ditch fire

(Photo courtesy of City of Decorah)

A ditch fire is being blamed as the cause of a Mediacom video and Internet outage Friday night.

Services went out around 6:00 p.m.  Two Mediacom service technicians headed to Decorah and another headed to a maintenance facility near
Sumner.  By 7:15 p.m. the technicians had determined that Mediacom had a fiber problem between Waucoma and Sumner.  Around 8:00pm one of the technicians discovered a below grade fiber vault was still burning after a farmer had burned a road ditch south of Lawler, causing the fiber and vault to be a complete loss.

As a result, complete video, HSD, and phone service was lost around 6:00 p.m. at the beginning of the Iowa Hawkeye NCAA Basketball Tournament game for Decorah, Freeport, Calmar, Ossian, Fort Atkinson and Spillville.  The cell phone tower in Waukon also lost light from the burnt vault.

Mediacom technicians worked through the night and had service restored by 2:00 a.m. Saturday.

City of Decorah officials are warning the public to be cautious when open burning. Public right-of-way areas contain many public utility structures such as the Mediacom fiber vault.  The Decorah MetroNet fiber is also in the public right-of-way in much the same way, at or below grade vaults. Always be sure to check the right-of-way before burning or excavations of any kind.

Call Iowa One Call before you dig at 1-800-292-8989.  For more information call Decorah City Manager Chad Bird at (563)-382-3651.