The North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium released the results of a survey open to area residents as part of a fire communications post-mortem around the telecommunication meltdown of the October 2017 wildfires, reported the Napa Valley Register. The report said there was much room for improvement.
“During the 2017 wildfires, it was learned the (region) lacked a well-designed telecommunications network that was resilient enough to survive wildfires,” the report said.
Some survey respondents noted how they lost cell service and didn’t receive county emergency alerts as the wildfires raged towards their homes in Northern California where 340 towers were either damaged or destroyed.
With the release of the survey results, Napa, Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino counties concluded that investing to create resilient, reliable, redundant and diverse telecommunications infrastructure should be a priority, reported the Register.
The report noted that AT&T owns most of the fiber infrastructure in the three counties, so people’s telecommunications connections depend on that system.
According to Supervisor Diane Dillon representing Napa County on the Broadband Consortium, communication during emergencies could include everything from encouraging people to keep portable radios, to having mobile cell towers that can be quickly deployed. “The really important thing to remember is there’s no one magic bullet,” Dillon said.
The consortium plans to share its report with the California Public Utilities Commission, FCC and federal, state and local officials to advocate for telecommunication system changes. The county will also look at solutions in coordination with local cities and towns.
May 22, 2018
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