User Panel
Posted: 7/3/2012 1:48:54 AM EDT
So... Two things.
1. This really highlights the need for preparedness. What if this went on longer than 48 hours? Could have been catastrophic. 2. WTF Verizon? Working in the Network and Telecommunications industry, I find it pretty surprising that something as important as supporting the 911 services of Virginia would be on a more redundant system. Lose commercial power to ONE location and have it bring down 911? Seriously?!? Fail. There were no reported deaths as a result of the “total failure” of 911 call centers throughout northern Virginia this weekend.
Residents in the City of Manassas, Manassas Park, Vienna and Fairfax and Prince William counties were told to call alternate phone numbers, send emails or drive to their nearest police or fire station if they had an emergency. Some residents in Fairfax and Prince William counties were able to get through Saturday, and some Manassas residents were able to get through beginning Sunday evening. Northern Virginia’s 911 services are supported by Verizon. A company spokesman said the company had a “commercial power failure” in its “central office in Arlington where there’s a lot of telecommunications equipment.” The power failure impacted Verizon’s “primary and backup power supply.” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova sent a note to her constituents Monday calling the failure “unacceptable” and promised “that this will be the focus of a serious discussion among elected leaders throughout the region and the Commonwealth.” News4 contacted all of the impacted areas to find out if there were any deaths, injuries or other close calls. Prince William County said there was one woman who tried to call 911 several times to report a cardiac arrest before she finally got through, but a spokesman for the county said the patient survived and there were “no adverse effects” from the delay. Other areas like Manassas Park and the City of Manassas said they didn’t see any “walk-ins” to local police or fire departments and didn’t have any “close calls.” Fairfax County also says it didn’t have any close calls but did not have specific numbers on the number of people who physically walked or drove to a fire or police station to get help. Discuss. |
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Shit happens sometimes.
I will bet they will now want to increase taxes to pay for a new "mo special never fail" system. |
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship.
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I bet the stupid calls 911 gets for rides to McDonald's or Garth Brooks tickets or the thousands of other non life threatening calls was a welcomed change. Plus the financial savings during those 48 hours from not responding to bs calls I'm sure is unfathonable.
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. You're right, it wasn't that bad. But people have been conditioned to rely on emergency services that should NOT go down in an emergency. WFIR in Roanoke went off the air. Part of the emergency alert system, it was gone. Turns out they switched to another frequency, but no one knew that. What good are emergency services if they don't work? |
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Try having the only dispatch tower in our half of the county go down during the worst flood in 500 years. People died because our county refused to have redundant systems in place all the while spending millions on multiple towers in the other half of the county.
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It has been established time and time again that emergency services does NOT have the duty to protect you.
Emergency services is a luxury... Kind of like air conditioning, a dishwasher, or electric power. No matter how redundant the back up systems are they can and will fail. I don't feel bad for those that aren't prepared, if you're that dependent on 911 you need to reevaluate your priorities. |
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Just bought a house. It has a 20,000 kw back up generator to run the well and septic system and select electrical systems. It certainly probed it's value. But, like most Arfcommers, I assume I am on my own when the shit hits the fan.
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I'll tell you another part of the 911 problem. Lots of people were calling 911 for emergencies like "oh no, a limb knocked a hole in my roof and now rain is getting in" and "my power went out."
Worst part was all the inoperative red lights. Holy shit, the drivers here are bad enough when there is a light telling them what to do. Maybe 10% of the drivers seem to know what to do. |
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Instead of dialing 911, you can probably call their real aaa/yyy-nnnn phone number, that will get you the same results. However the dispatch may not see your address on their computer screens.
If you even a just a bit prepared, ie have some basic food and water etc., you should come out of this pretty much unscathed |
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... like most Arfcommers, I assume I am on my own when the shit hits the fan. Me as well... |
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. You're right, it wasn't that bad. But people have been conditioned to rely on emergency services that should NOT go down in an emergency. WFIR in Roanoke went off the air. Part of the emergency alert system, it was gone. Turns out they switched to another frequency, but no one knew that. What good are emergency services if they don't work? The best emergency system is yourself. I'd bet that at most, 1% of the calls MAY be considered to be a true emergency. The real funny part, people will still do the opposite of what is recommended. [Radio announcer-Big ice storm, everyone should stay at home and make sure you have some preps. Typical person-OOOOOO, lets toss on a pair of sneakers and a light jacket and drive around to look at the mess. AAAAHHHHHH! Help 911, I slid off the road and and stranded in the ditch with 1/8th of a tank of gas, OMG HELP, HELP!. Emer 911-we'll get to you when we can, there are 4000 other idiots like you we need get to first. Typical person-WTH??? Where is 911 when you need them, all those other idiots should have stayed home! |
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It has been established time and time again that emergency services does NOT have the duty to protect you. Emergency services is a luxury... Kind of like air conditioning, a dishwasher, or electric power. No matter how redundant the back up systems are they can and will fail. I don't feel bad for those that aren't prepared, if you're that dependent on 911 you need to reevaluate your priorities. If this is the case , I don't feel compelled to pay for more shit that fails to do its job ! |
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I actually took matters into my own hands Friday night and loaded up the saw, fuel and water and drove around looking for anyone who needed help or who was blocked by a downed tree (assuming that there were no downed utility lines in the mess)
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"On your own" Don't threaten me with a good time. Yeah, you see the problem isn't SHTF, the problem is a near-SHTF scenario. Because once order starts getting restored theres going to be that akward moment when you have to explain why the heads of your enemies are on pikes lining your cul-de-sac, the soccer mom harem, and why you've developed a sudden affectation for shoulderpads made from old tires and a mohawk. Akward! |
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Quoted: Quoted: "On your own" Don't threaten me with a good time. Yeah, you see the problem isn't SHTF, the problem is a near-SHTF scenario. Because once order starts getting restored theres going to be that akward moment when you have to explain why the heads of your enemies are on pikes lining your cul-de-sac, the soccer mom harem, and why you've developed a sudden affectation for shoulderpads made from old tires and a mohawk. Akward! I would classify what we had was SHTF. On a scale between 1 and 10 with one being "that was it?" and 10 being able to collect the skulls of your enemies, this was a 3, perhaps 4. It again shows how easy it is for people to panic and commerce to halt when the grid goes down. Imagine what 30 terrorists could do who knew what they where doing.
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Instead of dialing 911, you can probably call their real aaa/yyy-nnnn phone number, that will get you the same results. However the dispatch may not see your address on their computer screens. If you even a just a bit prepared, ie have some basic food and water etc., you should come out of this pretty much unscathed The average US American lacks the ability to realize that there is a non-emergency number other that "911"....and often also does not know the address they are calling from in the first place...even when it's their residence. |
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Part of the reason much of the 911 grid went out is because the State Police has a bunch of communication towers on Poor Mountain. Damn near all of the lines up there got shredded.
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The 911 system didn't fail. I guaran-damn-tee there were dispatchers sitting in the center answering what few calls came in and handling significantly more than normal radio traffic.
Verizon's network failed. Verizon is a business. For Verizon to put in a fail-over location and secondary lines into a 911 center would be huge money. This is contradictory to the goals of a business. Will the re-evaluate things now? Certainly. Will anything change? Unlikely. Are they going to pay out a few settlements and attorneys in court? Probably, if/when someone can prove damages. Quoted:
So... Two things. 1. This really highlights the need for preparedness. What if this went on longer than 48 hours? Could have been catastrophic. 2. WTF Verizon? Working in the Network and Telecommunications industry, I find it pretty surprising that something as important as supporting the 911 services of Virginia would be on a more redundant system. Lose commercial power to ONE location and have it bring down 911? Seriously?!? Fail. There were no reported deaths as a result of the “total failure” of 911 call centers throughout northern Virginia this weekend.
Residents in the City of Manassas, Manassas Park, Vienna and Fairfax and Prince William counties were told to call alternate phone numbers, send emails or drive to their nearest police or fire station if they had an emergency. Some residents in Fairfax and Prince William counties were able to get through Saturday, and some Manassas residents were able to get through beginning Sunday evening. Northern Virginia’s 911 services are supported by Verizon. A company spokesman said the company had a “commercial power failure” in its “central office in Arlington where there’s a lot of telecommunications equipment.” The power failure impacted Verizon’s “primary and backup power supply.” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova sent a note to her constituents Monday calling the failure “unacceptable” and promised “that this will be the focus of a serious discussion among elected leaders throughout the region and the Commonwealth.” News4 contacted all of the impacted areas to find out if there were any deaths, injuries or other close calls. Prince William County said there was one woman who tried to call 911 several times to report a cardiac arrest before she finally got through, but a spokesman for the county said the patient survived and there were “no adverse effects” from the delay. Other areas like Manassas Park and the City of Manassas said they didn’t see any “walk-ins” to local police or fire departments and didn’t have any “close calls.” Fairfax County also says it didn’t have any close calls but did not have specific numbers on the number of people who physically walked or drove to a fire or police station to get help. Discuss. |
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. You're right, it wasn't that bad. But people have been conditioned to rely on emergency services that should NOT go down in an emergency. WFIR in Roanoke went off the air. Part of the emergency alert system, it was gone. Turns out they switched to another frequency, but no one knew that. What good are emergency services if they don't work? The best emergency system is yourself. I'd bet that at most, 1% of the calls MAY be considered to be a true emergency. The real funny part, people will still do the opposite of what is recommended. [Radio announcer-Big ice storm, everyone should stay at home and make sure you have some preps. Typical person-OOOOOO, lets toss on a pair of sneakers and a light jacket and drive around to look at the mess. AAAAHHHHHH! Help 911, I slid off the road and and stranded in the ditch with 1/8th of a tank of gas, OMG HELP, HELP!. Emer 911-we'll get to you when we can, there are 4000 other idiots like you we need get to first. Typical person-WTH??? Where is 911 when you need them, all those other idiots should have stayed home! These are the same people who live on the ocean front...ignore warnings to evac when bad hurricane comes...then call 911 wanting to be rescued when the winds are 100+ mph and water is flowing into their house, drowning them. |
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... like most Arfcommers, I assume I am on my own when the shit hits the fan. Me as well... Same here. We're doing a house budget now. The FIRST thing in the budget is a generator and tank, so we can have lights (and well water) when things go badly. |
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Quoted: It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. I agree about the adapting comment. Most people I work with live day to day for supplies & food. I find that way of living pretty weird but what do I know. |
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"On your own" Don't threaten me with a good time. Yeah, you see the problem isn't SHTF, the problem is a near-SHTF scenario. Because once order starts getting restored theres going to be that akward moment when you have to explain why the heads of your enemies are on pikes lining your cul-de-sac, the soccer mom harem, and why you've developed a sudden affectation for shoulderpads made from old tires and a mohawk. Akward! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just become my .sig line. |
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It has been established time and time again that emergency services does NOT have the duty to protect you. Emergency services is a luxury... Kind of like air conditioning, a dishwasher, or electric power. No matter how redundant the back up systems are they can and will fail. I don't feel bad for those that aren't prepared, if you're that dependent on 911 you need to reevaluate your priorities. Yes and No, they have the duty to tax you for 911 services on your phone bills (or is it a penalty), but they do not have to help you. |
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The idea that you aren't "on your own" in an emergency is a complete fiction in the first place.
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It has been established time and time again that emergency services does NOT have the duty to protect you. Emergency services is a luxury... Kind of like air conditioning, a dishwasher, or electric power. No matter how redundant the back up systems are they can and will fail. I don't feel bad for those that aren't prepared, if you're that dependent on 911 you need to reevaluate your priorities. Yes and No, they have the duty to tax you for 911 services on your phone bills (or is it a penalty), but they do not have to help you. Take it to court then and let me know how it works out. I never said it was fair, I only said its very well established in case law that they do not have a duty to protect. |
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"On your own" Don't threaten me with a good time. Yeah, you see the problem isn't SHTF, the problem is a near-SHTF scenario. Because once order starts getting restored theres going to be that akward moment when you have to explain why the heads of your enemies are on pikes lining your cul-de-sac, the soccer mom harem, and why you've developed a sudden affectation for shoulderpads made from old tires and a mohawk. Akward! CONGRATULATIONS! You've just become my .sig line. Cool, I've accomplished something! Now I just need to finish my paperwork and I can call it a day. |
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Do people camp anymore? I'm not talking rv or living out of your SUV at a site with a fire pit and or hook-ups. I'm talking throwing on a pack, hiking into the woods and sleeping in a tent for a few nights.
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It was not reported in the news, but there was a LOT of looting, robbery, theft, and at least one home invasion on Saturday night. Multiple schools were broken into.
If I hadn't had my scanner I wouldn't have known - expensive toy suddenly became worth every penny. |
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I actually took matters into my own hands Friday night and loaded up the saw, fuel and water and drove around looking for anyone who needed help or who was blocked by a downed tree (assuming that there were no downed utility lines in the mess) Most of my time was spent helping neighbors or people from church who contacted us through an informal grape-vine like service we've established over the years to communicate since many of the folks in our church don't realize that it isn't 1952. |
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I'll tell you another part of the 911 problem. Lots of people were calling 911 for emergencies like "oh no, a limb knocked a hole in my roof and now rain is getting in" and "my power went out." Worst part was all the inoperative red lights. Holy shit, the drivers here are bad enough when there is a light telling them what to do. Maybe 10% of the drivers seem to know what to do. As much as I want to agree, a lot of people adapted pretty well to the lights being out. Of course, there were a few fucktards that blew though downed intersections while people were stopped. But, for the most part, they did pretty well. I saw NO accidents as downed lights, which is unreal I saw virtually no FCPD or VSP, at all, on the road this entire weekend. Great showing by them |
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Hell, I only ran out of Jim Beam. I had to suffer and switch to rum.
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It was not reported in the news, but there was a LOT of looting, robbery, theft, and at least one home invasion on Saturday night. Multiple schools were broken into. If I hadn't had my scanner I wouldn't have known - expensive toy suddenly became worth every penny. The cops were certainly very busy during all this. As were firefighters, medics, and of course anyone associated with power companies in any way. |
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I saw one report come across the twitter feed (before my cable went out) that a 7-11 in the Roanoke ghetto got broken into and looted but I've yet to find any confirmation.
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I figure all bets are off as far a "community services" of any kind goes when there is a area-wide emergancy. Not so much on ARF but some of the BS I've heard revolving around the recent storm from the locals boggles the mind.
One guy that was without power for a few days was bitching because tourists were taking up space at the local motels. I happen to know where he lives and there is a spring-fed creek running on his property and he is blessed with plenty of shade trees around his house. I suggested that he just camp out and wash/cool off in the creek and he looked at me like I was from another planet. I commented that back before AC folks would just sleep in the yard when it got too hot to stay inside. He said there are too many things "out there" now that will eat you at night. Of course this was from the same guy that is always bragging it up on how tough he is. I just shook my head and walked away from his retarded pussy ass. |
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I suggested that he just camp out and wash/cool off in the creek We visited our farm this weekend up in TN. Sunday night we drove over to the river (a 5-minute drive as the farm basically sits inside a large bend) and went swimming. The river is still cool even in this heat. When we left, it was still 90 degrees, but after being in the river, it felt GREAT out. Windows down, no humidity, our clothes drying off were functioning like a big swamp cooler.........folks, if it's hot and dry and you have no power, go take a swim. |
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Quoted: Quoted: It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. You're right, it wasn't that bad. But people have been conditioned to rely on emergency services that should NOT go down in an emergency. WFIR in Roanoke went off the air. Part of the emergency alert system, it was gone. Turns out they switched to another frequency, but no one knew that. What good are emergency services if they don't work? Im right there with you. Which is why I DONT rely on those services; they dont always work. |
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I saw one report come across the twitter feed (before my cable went out) that a 7-11 in the Roanoke ghetto got broken into and looted but I've yet to find any confirmation. A 7-11 in fairfax got robbed. A pnc bank was also broken into. |
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You guys should've saw it though......crazyness. I understand it was a huge wide spread disaster. (it was literally 10 minutes of heavy wind...some rain and it was over...i'm not kidding. If it was a REAL natural disater I don't even want to think what it would've been like) All the stop lights out and even in the big extremely high traffic areas there was nobody to direct traffic. We all know how terrible people are at driving....I saw 3 wrecks in 1 trip through the valley. Not fatal or major wrecks mind you...just idiots.
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"On your own" Don't threaten me with a good time. LOL!!! |
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Some people decided it would be a good idea to get away from the NOVA area and go on vacation. Color me stupid but I could not think of a worse time to leave hearth and home in that area.
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Curious on how the folks with a Technician class HAM radio license did with 2m radios?
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It should be noted that I have seen many on here and irl justify a $20 mint landline bill S they viewed landlines as the gold standard of reliability.
This was not the case this go round |
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Curious on how the folks with a Technician class HAM radio license did with 2m radios? Most repeaters stayed up. |
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It should be noted that I have seen many on here and irl justify a $20 mint landline bill S they viewed landlines as the gold standard of reliability. This was not the case this go round I never lost cell service. 3G got a little flaky during the day but in the evening it was fine. |
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. yup. You give up robustness when you pursue efficiency too much. |
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. This. Some of the stories I've been told by colleagues are astounding. One, for the fact that otherwise smart and logical individuals have little to no food stored. Two, for the fact that people around the area were driving for miles to find fast food restaurants open so they could eat breakfast and have coffee. And three, for the cases in which customers were apparently in such a panic that they were raging when fast food restaurants were closed, when they ran out of items, or weren't able to accept credit cards. The DC area would be completely f'd in any sort of major disaster due to the people living around here. |
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It wasn't THAT bad... People have lost the ability to adapt to hardship. QFT people have gone seriously soft. A bunch of people posting in GD would not have been able to make it where I live . Power outages due to mother nature are just part of the way things work on a regular basis. There have been multiple instances where people have been without power for days and sometimes weeks here. A bunch of soft nancies . |
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"On your own" Don't threaten me with a good time. Yeah, you see the problem isn't SHTF, the problem is a near-SHTF scenario. Because once order starts getting restored theres going to be that akward moment when you have to explain why the heads of your enemies are on pikes lining your cul-de-sac, the soccer mom harem, and why you've developed a sudden affectation for shoulderpads made from old tires and a mohawk. Akward! I would classify what we had was SHTF. On a scale between 1 and 10 with one being "that was it?" and 10 being able to collect the skulls of your enemies, this was a 3, perhaps 4. It again shows how easy it is for people to panic and commerce to halt when the grid goes down. Imagine what 30 terrorists could do who knew what they where doing. |
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