Officials: All Street Fire Alarm Boxes Out Of Service In Manhattan
UPDATE: Manhattan FDNY Alarm Boxes Back Up And Running
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Crews were working to restore service Tuesday to all street fire alarm boxes in Manhattan.
New York City officials sent an alert out at around 4 p.m. notifying residents of an infrastructure failure that caused the service outage.
Verizon said it was in the process of replacing its copper wire with fiber and that all of their operations employees are making great progress in restoring service, 1010 WINS reported.
Officials: All Street Fire Alarm Boxes Out Of Service In Manhattan
"We were very close to completing that project when the copper network failed," Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.
The FDNY said only a tiny percentage of calls come from the boxes, and about 90 percent of the ones that do are false alarms.
The past two mayors tried to remove the boxes to save money, but a federal judge said that would discriminate against deaf people.
People who are deaf or hard of hearing should use the "911 tapping protocol," from a land line: dial 911, wait four seconds, then repeatedly single-tap on mouthpiece of telephone for police assistance; repeatedly double-tap for fire or medical assistance.
Residents are urged to dial 911 to report all emergencies until service to the boxes can be been restored.
For more information on requesting police, fire or medical assistance for people with disabilities, click here
Verizon said it expects to have the system repaired by Tuesday night.
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