Employees at KATU and KVAL went without work internet and email access today as a fire at Fisher Plaza in Seattle disrupted web services nationwide. While KATU.com and KVAL.com remained online, KATU's live web stream was and still is unavailable. A source at KATU tells OMC that it took "total teamwork" to continue operating, and that they "kept [KOMO Seattle] on air." An employee at KVAL also told us that wire services and video sources were difficult to access, while another told OMC they used mobile and home internet connections to stay in communication.

In Seattle, KOMO television and radio broadcast from remote locations as the building was evacuated. A data center at Fisher was also affected, with the travel section of Bing, Microsoft's new internet search service, being among the most notable websites taken offline. That site remains unavailable at this hour.

Internal internet connections for KATU and KVAL have since been restored.

UPDATE (7/4, 9:47am): The KATU live stream is back up, but Bing Travel is still down.