Rincon Peak is known for transmitting many things in Southern California but heat is not one of them. As of Thursday, Santa Barbara County firefighters were trying to keep that temperature to a minimum. The antenna farm on Rincon Peak, shared by most public safety agencies is home to several towercos, Crown, American and to Verizon (ASR#1215063).
An army of firefighters was battling on several fronts Thursday in their efforts to tame the giant 96,000-acre “Thomas Fire,” as it is called, scorching the Carpinteria Valley, according to Noozhawk. The citizens of Carpinteria were evacuated in the early morning hours yesterday as flames continued to approach from the east. The fire has menaced the community as it has much of Ventura County over the last two days, Noozhawk reported.
The FCC has been monitoring the California wildfires and Chairman Ajit Pai thanked first responders “who are working tirelessly” to combat the blazes. He said Thursday the Commission is ready to help.
Wireless Emergency Alerts have been used successfully to warn affected communities affected by the flames, according to Pai. The WEAs included clickable URLs in text messages that give the public direct access to additional public safety information. Clickable URLs are one of the WEA upgrades the Commission and wireless industry have been working to implement, Inside Towers reported.
As the fire has started to cross over into Santa Barbara County, Verizon is working around the clock to keep residents and first responders connected, according to Jonathan LeCompte, president of the Pacific Market for Verizon.
“Our wireless network performance is running at 97 percent within the Thomas and Creek Fire coverage areas,” LeCompte said. “This situation is dynamic, so we’re working 24×7 to monitor, reinforce and maintain our network.”
LeCompte listed the following steps the carrier is taking to save not just just their own sites but preserve and protect surrounding properties in addition to aiding emergency responders:
- added capacity to cell sites covering the CAL FIRE incident command center and evacuation shelters in Ventura County.
- working to install microwave transport (connectivity) where fiber has been lost or damaged.
- In areas experiencing commercial power outages, several of Verizon’s cell sites are running on backup power.
- Mobile equipment – such as cells on wheels (COWs), cells on light trucks (COLTs), satellite picocells on trailers (SPOTs) and repeaters on trailers (RATs) – are on standby to increase capacity when and where it becomes necessary.
- Verizon’s Southern California retail stores are being kept open and staffed to assist customers with their needs during this difficult time. Click here to find the nearest location.
“To serve the community, the Verizon Response Team is in the field, partnering with first responders and relief organizations,” LeCompte said. “Our Disaster Recovery Trailer is located at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, offering displaced residents free cell phone charging and internet-connected laptops so they can keep in touch with loved ones, employers and friends while they are away from home.”
Santa Barbara County issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Rincon Point area and Sheriff’s Department personnel evacuated about 300 residents from the area of Bates Road around 1:45 a.m.
Evacuation warnings were expanded Wednesday to include the coastal areas from Ventura to Rincon Point, on Santa Barbara County’s eastern border, Noozhawk reported. An estimated 12,000 structures remained threatened, and more than 50,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
Southern California Edison was working to return power to fire-impacted areas and as of 4 a.m. Wednesday, reported a 6,565-customer outage due to the Thomas Fire, a significant decrease since the day before.
On Monday night into early Tuesday, more than 200,000 customers lost power in southern Santa Barbara County and western Ventura County. As of Wednesday, there were also fire-related outages reported for the Rye Fire in Santa Clarita and the Creek Fire in Sylmar.
By Jim Fryer, Managing Editor, Inside Towers
December 8, 2017
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