CLAY BANKS, Wis. (WBAY) – Five calls were made to 911 after a camper went up in flames early Tuesday morning in Door County. None of them connected.
The Southern Door Fire Department confirms all of the calls were made from phones with Cellcom as a provider.
The fire broke out on County Highway J in Clay Banks, which is north of Algoma.
The owner saw the flames from their home and tried to call 911 four times.
The Southern Door fire chief says the owner reached out to him personally, and the chief was also unable to reach 911 on his Cellcom line. He was able to call using another phone on a different service.
Since the phone outage started May 14, Cellcom has said 911 services remain available to customers.
Cellcom issued a statement to Action 2 News Tuesday afternoon, saying there are protocols during phone outages and those protocols are being followed:
“We are sorry to hear about the recent camper fire incident in Algoma. There are longstanding, industry-wide federal protocols in place to protect access to 911 during any carrier-specific outage. These protocols ensure that emergency calls are rerouted through other available networks during any carrier outage. We followed those protocols in full and our systems remained in compliance since the outage began.”
No one was injured in the fire.
The camper is a total loss.
https://www.wsaw.com/2025/05/28/cellcom-calls-911-fail-camper-burns-overnight-fire-near-algoma/
