There are about 375,000 cell sites in the United States and about 150,000 cell towers. Of these, Verizon owns and operates the majority at about 68,000. These networks, considered public utilities, have found their way into our daily lives. Americans are highly dependent on cellular networks for everything from day to day calls, business communications, internet access, and GPS. When a tower goes down for maintenance or other reasons, other towers or cell sites pick up the slack. But what happens when there’s an area blackout in the middle of a natural or manmade disaster?
Some of the most infamous examples of major blackouts during a major disaster are the 2018 Camp Fire, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, and the 2022 Northern California Earthquake.
During the Camp Fire, caused by downed power lines managed by PG&E, cell towers in the immediate area had caught fire or melted from the extreme heat. These outages left evacuating residents with minimal phone reception, no internet connectivity, and no GPS. The residents of Paradise have limited options for evacuation and the fire had spread so rapidly, those options were swiftly narrowed to a single way out.
During Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, cell phone communications became an issue when many less fortified towers went down and only a few remained operational during the storm. Landlines were lost due to storm surge and many were left without a way to call for help or navigate out of their communities.
In 2022 a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Northern California causing brief cellular blackouts for all the major carriers. Carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon acknowledged the blackouts, but would not provide hard data for analysis. It is, however, important to realize the vulnerability of the communications network, regardless of carrier.
It’s easy to dismiss the possibility of the impact these outages occur. There have been leaps in infrastructure fortification since 2005. Undoubtably there were lessons learned from the impact of the Camp Fire in 2018. The utility companies, such as Verizon, are swift to implement changes and restore communications. Despite this, it’s important for families to remain resilient to the effects of communications loss as a result of major natural disasters.
At Family Disaster Prep, we recommend to plan for the worst possible outcome, which is complete loss of cellular communications during a catastrophic event. Should this occur;
Do you have several places of safety your family can flee to (following the 25/50/100 rule)?
Are you familiar enough with the streets and distances to navigate to those places of safety without the use of GPS?
Do you have a road atlas in your car? Do you know how to use it?
Does your family survival kit contain a NOAA capable, hand crank or battery operated radio?
In the event your family is not at home when disaster strikes, what is your plan?
As parents it’s so easy to hook your phone on its cradle and hit the go button on the navigation, whether Google Maps, Waze, or Maps. We’ve got a lot of multi-tasking to do in the car. Try disconnecting from turn-by-turn assistance once in a while. Practice navigating across town or to other towns using a road atlas or from memory. If your teenager is practicing for the driver test, it’s important to train them to find their way using street signs and points of interest. If you can teach them to locate a place by road atlas and compass, you can be sure they will be able to take care of themselves or help the family, in the event of a catastrophe.
For more information, check out our blog.
References
Associated Press, The. (2005). Katrina outages reveal phone system quirks. NBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9120503
Fletch, B. (2021). Verizon readies for C-band deployments with Crown Castle, SBA deals. Fierce Wireless. Retrieved from: https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/verizon-readies-for-c-band-deployments-crown-castle-sba-deals#:~:text=Verizon%20has%20about%2068%2C000%20macro%20towers%20in%20total%2C%20and%20the,the%20next%203%2D4%20years.
German, K. (2020). Blackouts that cut cell service aren’t just annoying, they’re dangerous. CNET. Retrieved from: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/blackouts-that-cut-cell-service-arent-just-annoying-theyre-dangerous/
Ming, K. (2022). Call Kurtis Investigates: Customers complain of cell outages after Northern California quake. CBS News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/call-kurtis-investigates-cell-outages-after-california-earthquake/
Steel in the Air. (2023). 5G Cell Towers in 2023: Top Questions Answered. Steel in the Air. Retrieved from: https://www.steelintheair.com/5g-cell-towers-in-2023-top-questions-answered/#:~:text=How%20Many%205G%20Cell%20Towers,and%20around%20150%2C000%20cell%20towers.
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