ROGERSVILLE — Hawkins County 911 officials have begun searching for a remedy to the effects of lightning after the second strike since April interrupted service for about 30 minutes and ruined an estimated $30,000 worth of equipment Sunday night.
Hawkins County 911 Director Gay Murrell said the new 911 center, which was constructed in 2009, is supposed to be grounded. But a lightning strike in April destroyed several surveillance cameras.
About 11:30 p.m. Sunday, the 911 building was hit again by lightning, with more devastating results.
“It came in through the heavy equipment inside, and we temporarily lost all telephones and radios,” Murrell said. “Telephones came up within five minutes, but our radio communication was knocked out, so we had to use the radio equipment in the (county Emergency Management Agency’s) mobile command center.”
Dispatch capabilities were down for about 30 minutes before the mobile command center could be activated. Murrell said fortunately it was a light time period for call volume.
During that period of time, Hawkins County 911 received some calls for storm-related downed trees and one tree fire when a tree fell on a power line, but no “life threatening” calls came in before the mobile radios could be activated.
“We had to work a relay system,” Murrell said. “Inside we answered the phones and dispatched out in the mobile command center.”
A technician arrived Monday morning and brought some of the inside radios back online. Murrell said she called in extra dispatchers Monday morning to assist with calls.
Still, the 911 system suffered “extensive damage” as a result of the lightning strike, Murrell said. The repair costs will be covered by insurance.
“I’ve estimated that we are looking at a minimum of $30,000 worth of damage,” Murrell said. “We lost channel cards, one console, two radios, 11 cameras, a big-screen TV that we watch the weather on, and possibly lost three computers. We’ve had to rearrange a lot today.”
Murrell added, “We are grounded, but not to the extent that we should have been. The electrician is going to get together with our insurance carrier to figure out what we need to do to improve our grounding.”
Hawkins County was hit with a massive power outage Friday evening as a result of a fire at the John Sevier Fossil Plant in Rogersville. Hawkins County 911 has a backup system for power outages, which did keep the service up and running during the approximately one-hour blackout.