A week before Hurricane Ian ravaged Fort Meyers and surrounding areas of Florida, AT&T sent in about 500 volunteers with equipment to prep for the incoming natural disaster.
The volunteer group is known as the Network Disaster Recovery team, a group of AT&T employees who volunteer to set up emergency internet service to help first responders communicate with other first responders and with people who need help. AT&T has invested more than $600 million in the program since its inception in 1991.
“If you’re stuck on a roof but don’t have service, you can’t call anyone to tell them you need help,” said AT&T’s network lead Chris Sambar.
When the volunteers arrived in Florida, they came equipped with generators, large and small satellites, equipment to pump water out of areas, giant dehumidifiers and refueling vehicles. They also sent up drones to survey damage to cell towers.
The most difficult part of the Hurricane Ian mission has been getting Sanibel Island and Pine Island connected after bridges linking the islands to the rest of the state were destroyed, leaving residents stranded. The team, which works with federal, state and local officials, used an amphibious vehicle, one that can travel on land or water, to deliver a mini cell site to Sanibel.
“That was the first connection those folks had on that island for first responders to talk to the main island,” Sambar said.
A helicopter delivered a similar portable cell site to Pine Island.
“Within minutes of setting up, a resident called family to let them know she was safe – the reason we work so hard to keep Floridians connected,” AT&T wrote in a recent blog post.
Dallas-based AT&T also opened up its network to customers from other wireless carriers. The company said it has had 31.5 Terabytes of data flow onto its network from non-AT&T customers. That’s the equivalent of more than 11 billion texts.
“It was the right thing to do,” Sambar said. “People needed to be able to contact public safety and loved ones.”
The team of volunteers will stay on the ground in Florida for another two to three weeks to continue repairing the wireless network, he said.
“They are seeing terrible devastation. It’s hard on them,” Sambar said. “In some cases, employees are seeing deceased people in the carnage because we are typically some of the first ones in because they need communications set up right away.”
The AT&T recovery team
AT&T’s Network Disaster Recovery program has warehouses across the country to store the equipment that enables volunteers to set up portable base camps and restore service in disaster-ravaged areas. In total, the program has 40 locations and 400 volunteers across the country.
Bringing their own equipment is essential since it isn’t typically possible to rent what’s needed amid a disaster, said Shannon Browning.
“We try to be self-supportive so we don’t put further strain on the resources of impacted areas,” Browning said. “We bring our own bunks, fuel, generators and food.”
When all of Puerto Rico lost connection during Hurricane Maria in 2018, the team sent a satellite that allowed all AT&T customers on the island to text and make calls again.
All volunteers are AT&T employees, including retail workers, technicians and software developers. After signing up, they go through disaster training to learn survival skills and gain expertise in deploying equipment. The company has held seven three-day training sessions in 2022. When volunteers are needed, an email blast is sent out to see who can help.
“We are constantly training so everyone knows how to do everyone else’s job so we won’t ever have to say, ‘We need to wait for Mike to come back to do that,’” said Dwayne Moore.
Meteorologists work with the full-time network recovery team to give them timely information on potential fires or hurricanes. So far this year, the team has had 700 deployments, a 20% increase from last year. A lot of those on the team have military or law enforcement backgrounds, said Michael Olier, who previously served in the military.
“We bring those lessons from former lives here,” Olier said. “We are like brothers when we do these deployments.”
