CRASH CUTS PHONE LINES IN FILLMORE.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

SANTA PAULA - Outside telephone service - including 911 calls - for residents in Fillmore and Piru was knocked out Tuesday after a truck crashed into electrical poles carrying cable lines along Highway 126.

Local dialing still worked, but Pacific Bell estimated 7,000 to 8,000 residential and business customers lost outside local toll, long distance and emergency calls. A GTE spokeswoman could not estimate how many customers were without those services. Cellular telephone service was not affected.

The Ventura County Sheriff's Department sent out information over the emergency broadcast system, telling residents to call the Fillmore Police Department directly in case of an emergency, said sheriff's spokesman Eric Nishimoto.

``It's kind of like the old days now,'' Nishimoto said. ``If there's an emergency they have to call the local police department instead of 911.''

The crash occurred at 2:30 p.m. at Willard Road when a truck collided with electrical poles. The California Highway Patrol said traffic on eastbound 126 remained backed up during the afternoon rush hour.

Fillmore resident Cammie Benson said the outage didn't concern her. In a way, she said, it was a relief.

``I have teen-agers at home. We get 20 or 30 calls a day. It's fine with me if (the phone) is out for a day,'' Benson said.

As for access to 911 emergency services in the small city, she wasn't too concerned about that either. ``We can drive ourselves to the hospital just as quickly as an ambulance.''

Fillmore resident Judy Rice said access to cell phones relieved her worries.

``In the event of an emergency we can always contact each other,'' she said.

Telephone services were restored by 6 p.m., a GTE spokeswoman said.

Pacific Bell spokesman Steve Getzug said 7,000 to 8,000 residential and business customers felt the impact of the outage.