Copper thieves snip fibre, leaving 10,000 in digital dark as school drill stalls

When a crew of copper thieves targeted the city’s fibre network, they ripped out the copper‑laden cables that carry the internet. The theft left about 10,000 residents without connectivity.

The outage had an unexpected side‑effect: a nearby school’s emergency drill was delayed. The school’s alert system relied on the same network that was knocked out, meaning alarms and communications could not be triggered as planned.

Officials warned that such thefts not only deprive households of service but also jeopardise public safety when critical systems depend on a single strand of glass.

The incident underscores the growing problem of scrap‑metal hunting and its ripple effects on everyday life, from streaming video to basic emergency procedures.