Inside Towers Research
A search of the Inside Towers database showed over 550 towers within a 20-mile radius of a point in Chico, CA. The tower owners with the most exposure to the blaze within that ring include:
- Los Angeles City/County: 127
- SBA: 98
- T-Mobile: 58
- AT&T Mobility: 37
- Crown Castle: 30
- American Tower: 22
- Sprint: 10
- Ventura County: 8
- Pacific Bell: 7
- Verizon: 5
- Vertical Bridge: 4
While on the ground discussing the company’s round-the-clock efforts to restore its service, Erwin said, “The impact of the wildfires in California are devastating and we know how important it is for people to connect with loved ones during times of crisis. We are proud to support organizations like the North Valley Community Foundation who are working so tirelessly to provide relief effort resources to the people and communities that are impacted.”
Verizon towers in the Camp Fire area
Verizon said concerning the Camp Fire in Butte County, that service has been restored to Oroville, and “vastly improved” in Paradise. The carrier is still making repairs in the north part of town and Magalia. Concerning the Woolsey fire in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, Verizon deployed a SAT COLT at Zuma Beach, Pt. Dume and a mobile communications trailer at Fire Camp 13 in Malibu.
Verizon’s wireless operations leader Tami Erwin met with community and local emergency management officials at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, which is serving as a fire base camp for first responders. Erwin announced a $100,000 grant to the North Valley Community Foundation. Erwin also said the company is evaluating its support for additional community relief efforts for both Northern and Southern California.
AT&T said overall, its network continues to perform well and is currently operating at above 99 percent of normal in both Northern and Southern California. “As our teams deploy network recovery assets, and repair equipment damaged by fire or power outages, customers should experience an improvement in their services,” the carrier stated.
T-Mobile said a limited number of sites remain impacted in greater Sacramento, which is the Camp Fire area, because of power or “third-party transport issues caused by the fires.” It too, set up a COLT in Paradise. Regarding the Woolsey and Hill fires in Northern Los Angeles, T-Mobile has restored, “a significant number of sites with fiber damage.” Here, too, there are additional site outages due to power and third-party transport issues, but the carrier says it’s monitoring and adjusting its network accordingly to provide coverage.
Verizon is extending free talk, text, and data to November 30. Sprint was waiving call, text and data coverage fees for customers in the affected areas through Sunday. Comments? Email us.
November 19, 2018
