UPDATE: 5:20 p.m., Wednesday

The borough's regular phone lines are up and running again, police chief Erik Rose confirmed.

From mid-morning until early afternoon, incoming phone calls placed to Fair Lawn's municipal offices, emergency operations center and police department non-emergency line had been interrupted due to a telephone service provider problem. 

To get around the fact that outside calls made directly to borough departments were being met with a busy signal, the borough has rigged a temporary work around that allowed callers who dial (201)-796-1700 to reach an automated phone tree that then could direct them to their intended call recipient.

Rose said the police department was in the process of setting up a similar fix when the phone lines began working again. The borough's 911 system never went down, he said.

This is the second time this month that the borough has had an issue with its telephone provider, Optimum Lightpath.

Two weeks ago, the borough's police non-emergency line was down for about a half-hour before a transfer could be rigged.

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