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Thousands of acres burned. More than 500 homes destroyed. Two lives lost. The Black Forest Fire near Colorado Springs showed little mercy. For the hundreds of emergency responders battling a blaze that ferocious requires a wide array of tools, including wireless technology.
Verizon Wireless provided 4G LTE routers, jetpacks, smartphones and other devices to help emergency personnel coordinating the fire crews. The network team established an in-building solution at the main evacuation center to add voice and data capacity to handle the increased volume of calls and data transmissions.
“People are using everything from Droids to whatever devices you have. It has made a huge difference in being able to communicate with people,” said Sallie Clark, El Paso County commissioner.
“We happen to be in the evacuation zone. With 4G LTE, I was able to keep track of what was going on here,” said John Harris, a Colorado Springs resident.
The Verizon “big rig” -- a fully-equipped and staffed mobile communications center – arrived on-site within hours. The mobile center is specially designed with 24 Internet web stations for voice and data access, device charging stations, multiple flat panel TVs to follow the latest fire developments and other services to help more of those displaced.
Click here to learn more about relief efforts in Colorado Springs.
