The Qwest CO in downtown Bellingham WA has a large microwave drum aimed at Orcas Island in the San Juans. The Qwest tower on Orcas has line of site, and what appears to be microwave DS3 rigs aimed at both Anacortes and Friday Harbor. Friday Harbor has a spur of the fiber line (SOUTH of the cut) connecting it to Everett and Seattle. Now I'm no wireless wizard, or Qwest engineer, but it wouldn't be terribly difficult to route 911-destined calls via microwave to the 911 call center. Whatcom County, which had its 911 service knocked out due to the fiber cut does not have a local 911 emergency operations center. 911 calls are routed to somewhere in Snohomish county, approximately 55 miles south on I-5.

If a single fiber cut takes them out, it's not _just_ Qwest's fault.