UPDATE: Verizon Restores Service for Thousands After Lawrence, Mass., Fire; Restoration Efforts Continue

Service has been restored for thousands of Verizon customers, and restoration efforts continue for thousands more in the Lawrence area after a fire under the Central Bridge on North Canal Street in Lawrence early Monday morning (Aug. 27) damaged Verizon cables.

Verizon crews worked through the night, splicing new cables and restoring service for customers who live and work primarily in the Lawrence and North Andover areas. Verizon trailers have been set up at the scene, and crews will work in round-the-clock shifts until all services are restored.

"These men and women are doing yeomen's work under difficult circumstances to bring as many of our customers back as quickly as possible," said Allison Cole, Verizon president of operations in New England. "And they won't stop until every one of our customers is back in service."

Some Verizon customers in Andover, Lawrence, Littleton, Methuen, North Andover, North Reading and Tewksbury have lost some Verizon services as a result of the fire. Also, voice and data services for some business and government customers may be affected. Customers in other communities may be impacted as well.

"Verizon crews worked through the night and made very good progress on restoring service for our customers," said Cole. "We have already restored critical network operational and surveillance circuits, high-capacity fiber backbone circuits, and worked with state and local officials to ensure that all 911 services are fully operational in the area."

The work to restore service is complex, given that technicians are splicing thousands of individual copper and fiber optic connections. 

Verizon is working with its customers, local officials and other carriers to identify and prioritize service restoral for critical services, including health care facilities, public safety, elderly housing complexes and individual customers.

Customers can report outages by calling 1-800-VERIZON.

Verizon will provide a further update by 6 p.m. ET today (Aug. 28).  

About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 94 million retail customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 188,000.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com. 

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