Widespread Comcast/Xfinity outage in Fresno area caused by electrical fire

An electrical fire at Comcast’s Fresno facility caused outages of Internet, TV and telephone services for local customers Wednesday and spread to Visalia and Modesto.

Comcast telephone customers in Sacramento and the Bay Area also reported problems.

Company spokesman Bryan Byrd said electrical control panels at the Fresno technical facility, called a “head-in,” were damaged in the fire that broke out about 6:30 a.m.

“It took out video services to the area and impacted phone and Internet,” Byrd said.

“It was the control panel that caught on fire,” he said. “The building was not on fire.”

Byrd did not know how many customers were affected.

At first, only portions of Fresno were affected, but disruptions became more widespread. Some customers lost their Internet service but kept their TV and phone services, or vice versa, he said.

Repairs were made by midafternoon and service was fully restored by 3:45 p.m., he said.

Byrd said he has worked for Comcast for 10 years and knows of no similar case of a fire causing widespread outages in California.

Readers of The Fresno Bee posted on Facebook and Twitter that outages had hit Reedley, Hanford, Fowler, Clovis, Sanger, Selma, Tulare, Lemoore, Dinuba, Riverdale, Los Banos, Atwater and Merced. Fresno Pacific University also was affected, according to one Facebook post.

Byrd said phone service disruptions in Sacramento and the Bay Area were linked to the Fresno fire, but those two areas did not lose TV or Internet service.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said it was getting “many 911 calls for a Comcast cable/internet outage.” The Sheriff’s Office added in a message on Twitter: “This is NOT an emergency. Please use 911 responsibly.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Widespread Comcast/Xfinity outage in Fresno area caused by electrical fire."