Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / A recent incident of cable theft left the Great Blue Heron Reserve in Chilliwack without phone service for almost two weeks.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Cable theft

Cable theft leaves Chilliwack nature reserve without phone service for nearly 2 weeks

Nov 18, 2024 | 9:29 AM

CHILLIWACK — The executive director of a Chilliwack nature reserve says an incident of cable theft left the non-profit without phone service for almost two weeks.

In response to an email from Fraser Valley Today, Great Blue Heron Reserve Executive Director Camille Coray said Friday (Nov. 15) via email that she’s been surprised by how long it has taken a communications company to restore phone service to the nature reserve.

On Tuesday, November 12, Great Blue Heron posted on Facebook that it had suffered a recent theft of its communication lines, meaning it was unable to receive phone calls.

“I haven’t reported the theft to the RCMP as I kind of assumed that would be something that the communications company would do, but perhaps that isn’t the case,” Coray said Friday. “We have definitely been surprised by how long it is taking them to do the necessary replacements/repairs. We have been without a phone line for at least 2 weeks now. Focus Communications has been on site multiple times and the City of Chilliwack is aware of the situation.”

By Monday morning, Nov. 18, Great Blue Heron said phone service had been restored.

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Cable theft

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Utility and cable line thefts have been a problem the past month in Chilliwack and Abbotsford. In late October 2024, the Abbotsford Police Department said criminal acts targeting Telus communication lines throughout the Abbotsford area caused over $100,000 worth of damage to Telus infrastructure.

According to a statement from spokesperson Sgt. Paul Walker, the AbbyPD’s Crime Reduction Unit continues to investigate what it calls an “uptick” in commercial wire thefts involving Telus utility lines in Abbotsford, resulting in over $100,000 worth of damage to Telus infrastructure. The criminal acts have subsequently interrupted critical 911 and other telecommunication services.

Image: AbbyPD / Sgt. Paul Walker of the Abbotsford Police Department speaks after communication line theft caused over $100,000 in damage to Telus.

AbbyPD is appealing for public assistance in obtaining dash cam footage from anyone travelling in the area of the two most recent thefts under investigation, which occurred within:

• The 1000 block of McCallum Road (between McConnell Road and Vye Road) on October 17, 2024, between 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

• The 4500 block of Sumas Mountain Road (between McKee Road and Dawson Road) on Wednesday, October 23, between 4 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

AbbyPD says Abbotsford residents should be aware that all Telus employees or contractors working on overhead telecommunications lines will be operating vehicles and equipment that would be fully identifiable to the organizations they belong to.

Chilliwack had a similar issue involving cable theft in October. A service outage affecting Telus customers in Ryder Lake, parts of Eastern Hillsides and the Chilliwack River Valley lasted for over 24 hours starting Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 22.

The Vancouver-based company reported on its website that Telus-related services experienced a disruption impacting mobile devices and landline phones. More specifically, the affected services consisted of Telus cell phone voice, data and text; Telus internet and home phone service; Optik TV and Pik TV. and 911 landline. The company attributed the outage to “damage inflicted upon Telus infrastructure (cable theft).”

Image: Telus / Telus service technician at work in Chilliwack following a service outage due to cable theft that happened around October 21..