For the past week, the Woodbridge (CA) Fire Department has been battling a major communications breakdown, one that’s slowed emergency response times and highlighted vulnerabilities in critical systems, according to KOVR-TV.
The issue began when a fiber line was cut near a local cell tower, severely impacting cellular service in the area. That disruption caused several fire department vehicles to drop offline from the dispatch system.
“Some of them weren’t logging onto the system, which meant our dispatch couldn’t track or communicate with those units,” said Woodbridge Fire Chief Darin Downey. “Once we started investigating, we discovered the problem was due to poor cell service.”
The fiber cut knocked out one of the department’s key technologies, the Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL), which allows dispatchers to pinpoint the closest unit to an emergency and send help quickly.
“When seconds count—especially in cases like cardiac arrest—delays can mean the difference between life and death,” Downey said. “Without oxygen, a person can only survive four to six minutes. That’s why rapid response and early defibrillation are critical.”
But the damage to the fiber line wasn’t the only hurdle. According to Verizon (NYSE: VZ), a federally protected bird’s nest near the damaged tower has blocked crews from making immediate repairs, further prolonging the outage.
While the system is now back online, the situation has pushed the department to consider backup solutions to avoid similar outages in the future.
“One option we’re looking into is using T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) as a redundant system alongside Verizon,” Downey told KOVR-TV. “Starting July 1, T-Mobile is expected to roll out automatic switching to Starlink if both cellular networks go down. That kind of failover could be a game-changer for us.”
Verizon said its engineers are coordinating with local and federal wildlife officials to ensure the bird’s nest remains protected while they work to restore full service.
Reader Interactions