Lash Construction said Friday that the fiber-optic line that its crew cut earlier in the week that knocked out 9-1-1 communication in Santa Barbara was not marked as an existing utility.

The City of Santa Barbara said Lash cut the cable that led to the shutdown of 9-1-1 communication for several hours on Tuesday into early Wednesday morning.

“The fiber optic communication line that was damaged on Tuesday … was not marked and/or identified by the Dig Alert system responsible for identifying existing utilities in Southern California,” according to the statement from Lash.

Multiple parties, including Lash, are actively conducting “a thorough investigation into this matter.”

“Until the investigation is complete, we believe it would be irresponsible to speculate or draw conclusions,” according to the statement. “Our initial ‘no comment’ response was made out of respect for the ongoing process and to avoid sharing incomplete or potentially misleading information. We remain fully committed to cooperation and will provide further updates when appropriate.”

The Lash Construction crew accidentally cut the cable while doing work on the De la Vina Street bridge.

The 9-1-1 phone lines to local dispatch centers were down most of Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. The cutting of the Frontier fiber line also sparked a communications outage at the Federal Aviation Administration Santa Barbara Air Traffic Control Tower and Terminal Radar Approach Control. 

The FAA grounded flights at the Santa Barbara Airport for most of the day Tuesday, canceling at least 15 flights.

Santa Barbara is currently replacing the bridge over Mission Creek between Vernon Road and Alamar Avenue. The new bridge is designed to meet current structural and seismic standards.