AT&T officials announced Saturday that they were working “around the clock on recovery efforts” after an RV exploded Friday in Nashville, outside an AT&T transmission building.
The blast caused extensive damage and knocked out phone and internet communications throughout Middle Tennessee.
In a press release AT&T officials said they had two portable cell sites operating in the downtown part of Nashville. They also said they were deploying an unspecified number of additional portable sites throughout the Nashville area and the surrounding region.
“At our facility, the focus of the restoration continues to be getting power to the equipment in a safe and secure way. Challenges remain, including a fire which reignited overnight and led to the evacuation of the building,” AT&T officials said in the press release.
“Currently, our teams are on site working with safety and structural engineers. They have drilled access holes into the building and are attempting to reconnect power to critical equipment. Technical teams are also working as quickly as possible on rerouting additional services to other facilities in the region to restore service.”
As The Tennessee Star reported, Metro Nashville authorities have imposed a curfew on parts of downtown after the massive Christmas Day explosion damaged at least 41 businesses on Second Avenue and collapsed one building.
The blast went off at 166 Second Avenue North around 6:30 a.m. Friday.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said he had spoken with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. The governor, Cooper said, was working to declare a civil emergency. That declaration would allow members of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to commit to rebuild Second Avenue, Cooper said.
Cooper also announced that Nashville officials established a curfew from 4:30 p.m. Friday until 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The curfew extends from Fourth Avenue to the Cumberland River and from the James Robertson Parkway down to Broadway.
The Christmas Day explosion collapsed one residential building, said Nashville Fire Chief William Swann at a Friday evening press conference. Swann did not say which one. He also said that the structural integrity of surrounding buildings “are in question.”
The blast injured at least three people.
Nashville authorities ask anyone with information about this case to contact Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
