Auto Shop Fire Knocks Out Verizon Service

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLARKSBURG – A fire at an auto body shop melted a section of a fiber optic telephone cable, knocking out service to about 1,500 Verizon customers.

The outage mainly affected customers in the Clarksburg area. A few customers in Charleston, Parkersburg and Wheeling also may have been affected because the cable was part of a fiber ring that carries traffic for other parts of the state, Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said.

Service to most customers was restored by 8 p.m.

“It’s a fiber optic cable, just made up of glass strands. The heat of the fire melted fiber cable,” Gierczynski said.

The fire destroyed Chuck’s Body Shop and the heat damaged the vinyl siding of two neighboring houses.

Several vehicles inside and outside the building also were damaged, said Tom Rohrbough, chief of the Nutter Fort Volunteer Fire Department.

A wall of the body shop collapsed and the debris blocked part of Old Route 50 for a short time, he said.

No injuries were reported.

Rohrbough said the fire was reported at 4 a.m. Tuesday and firefighters brought it under control by 9 a.m.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.