Lumos Fiber repeatedly hit lines around Midlands. Why is it working again in this county?
A fiber optics company that was previously blocked from doing business in Lexington County has been cleared to get back to work.
Lumos Fiber was previously blocked by Lexington County from installing internet cables in the Murraywood neighborhood near Irmo following a water line strike that caused major damage to a residential street.
After that incident last month, Lumos were ordered to stop work by the Lexington County Department of Public Works and was prohibited from restarting until they had put together a “corrective action” plan.
On Tuesday, Lexington County Council Chairwoman Beth Carrigg told a council meeting that plan had been accepted.
“There’s been concern about numerous companies running fiber optic cables,” Carrigg said at the meeting. “We’ve had several meetings with Lumos. They had an action plan they had to meet to clean up and move forward, and they have met those requirements. If you notice them out, they have a go-ahead, but if you see any future problems, reach out and we’ll try to make it a smooth transition.”
Under the terms of the plan, all Lumos crews must go through a new round of safety training, and personnel will be required to attend a monthly safety meeting going forward, according to documents submitted to Lexington County. The county will receive regular tracking information for any future incidents, and will meet with local officials, water and gas providers and the fire department before starting work in new areas. Workers or crews found to be at fault for any more damage will be removed from the project.
The Irmo work area will be reviewed for any restoration needs, and the company will provide locations for trash removal and restroom facilities. Lumos will notify any utility owners if its crews are unable to identify the location of any buried utilities before they start digging. The company will also use its own ground-penetrating radar to try to identify buried utilities.
“Lumos has increased communication with all utility owners and have covered topics that need to be addressed for all parties including training of locators and better understanding of the network,” the company said in the plan, a copy of which was provided to The State by the county. “Knowing that many facilities are not marked, if we expose an iron pipe then [we will] assume there is an unmarked plastic gas line nearby,” and check “meters to verify that service lines are the same type of pipe [iron or plastic] to ensure there aren’t any abandoned lines.”
Last month’s incident in Irmo was the latest involving Lumos. The fiber cable company was previously stopped from doing work in Columbia last year after similar water and gas line strikes, including one gas leak that required several residents of the Elmwood Park neighborhood to be temporarily evacuated from their homes and the closure of busy Elmwood Avenue.
Lumos announced last fall that it had received the proper franchise agreements with Columbia, West Columbia and Irmo to start laying 1,200 miles of fiber-optic cable between Richland and Lexington counties. The cables will allow faster internet speeds for the areas served once they are installed, Lumos said.
The company began laying cables in the Irmo area in September as part of its buildout there. A company executive previously told The State this work would include installing WiFi in town parks.
Lumos did not respond to a request for more information about its future plans on Wednesday. The Columbia Water Department previously said it would take responsibility for the water damage on WIllow Bend Court because the broken water line was not properly marked.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)