Time Warner Cable details damage caused by underground fire in New York

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) took the unusual step of releasing detailed photos that show the damage that an underground fire in New York's East Village caused to its cable plant earlier this month.

Fire damage at TWC's East Village cable plant.

In a post on the company's blog, director of digital communications Jeff Simmermon published several photos of burned wires and melted fiber optic cables. He noted that the underground fire--which was sparked by a steam pipe that blew a leak--also damaged plant owned by Time Warner Cable rivals Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and RCN.

"I am told that the curly white stuff in there is the insulation from some of Verizon's cables. This is the standard way that multi conductor phone wires are insulated," Simmermon wrote. "I want to meet the person who first discovered that ratty old drag queen wigs are excellent insulators. You know that they've got a few stories," he added.

The Oct. 6 fire left about 24,000 Time Warner Cable subscribers without service, and generated some negative feedback for the company on Twitter and other social networks. Simmeron's humorous post is a good example of how a cable MSO can use social networks to improve its reputation with subscribers.

For more:
- see Time Warner Cable's Untangled blog

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