PLYMPTON– The business line for the Plympton Fire Department has been restored after approximately 12 days out of service, according to Capt. John Sjostedt, III, of the PFD.
On the Facebook group Plympton Helping Plympton, Sjostedt posted, “The problem with the Plympton Fire Department phone lines has been fixed. The 781-585-2633 line is now back in service and will connect with the Public Safety Dispatchers at the Regional Old Colony Communications Center. Thank you for your patience during this technical challenge.”
The cause of the problem turned out to be more complicated than originally thought.
Speaking to the Express Sunday night, Sjostedt said, “Work was being done on the State Police Middleboro barracks, which used to dispatch us up until about five years ago. The ‘2633’ line used to be forwarded from the State Police to Plympton.”
When Plympton joined the ROCCC, that line was again forwarded to the ROCCC.
During the course of the telephone work at the barracks in Middleboro this patchwork of forwarding was somehow broken.
A Verizon official, in an interview last week, denied that the problem was theirs, blaming it on the town’s “business to business” service provider, which may be reselling Verizon products.
A town official said that the problem entirely lay with Verizon. The New York-based company would not send a technician to assist and attempted to fix the issue remotely. When they finally did send a technician, the problem was fixed, “within hours,” said the official.
For now, according to Sjostedt, a temporary solution has been found so that the number works, until an actual physical line can be put in.
The business line is 781-585-2633 for the Plympton Fire Department. Dispatchers at the ROCCC receive the call and deal with routine matters but forward the call to the PFD if necessary.
The PFD direct emergency line is 781-585-0783, but officials always suggest dialing 911 in case of emergency.