California fires prompt telco aid, concern

The wildfires currently cutting through a huge swatch of Southern California are bringing out the altruism in telcos while simultaneously causing concern for networks that are in danger.

Verizon, which has local and significant wireless infrastructure in the region, is offering customers who have had their homes destroyed by the fires free forwarding service to any operational number. Customers also are being given free voice mail for an entire year or can opt to have their local service moved to another location without paying the normal one-time charge.

Verizon, along with AT&T also are making donations to relief organizations. AT&T is contributing $100,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and providing 10,000 30-minute AT&T PrePaid Phone Cards to help those displaced by the fires. Verizon, through the Verizon Foundation, is kicking in $25,000 to the American Red Cross chapter in San Bernadino. Cingular Wireless has donated 1100 handsets to the evacuation centers and American Red Cross chapters in the area.

Both companys as well as Cingular report either minimal or no damage to existing infrastructure, though AT&T said it has 11 Network Disaster Recovery technology trailers staged near San Diego ready for deployment. Cingular said late Monday night that about 5% of its cell sites in San Diego and 1% of its sites in Los Angeles were affected. The company already has restored service to about half of those and has cells on wheels available for the others.

Verizon reported about 9000 phone lines out of service as of yesterday afternoon, adding that some of those were impacted by backup batteries draining after commercial power was lost.