Florida Public Safety Officials Seek FCC Rules on Wireless Disaster Recovery

Backhaul, roaming and coordination problems slowed wireless restoration after the hurricane last year, the bureau reported (see 1905090045). The report will inform the FCC’s ongoing broader review of the Wireless Resiliency Cooperative Framework, said a May 9 news release on the report.

A Bay County fire chief singled out Verizon network issues during and immediately after Michael, but the carrier said it has no regrets. Bay was one of the hardest hit counties. “We are proud of the way we responded,” and Verizon is spending $25 million on its network in the Florida Panhandle “to help the community rebuild with the most technologically advanced wireless infrastructure -- including 5G,” a spokesperson emailed. “With each storm we go through, we learn more and more, and we evolve our game plan.”

Many are dependent on wireless, “a significant utility” that’s “as important as power,” said Bay County Fire Chief Mark Bowen in an interview last week. FCC response to Hurricane Michael problems should be requirements, he said. “Recommendations are great,” but nothing forces carriers to implement them right away, the fire chief said. “These companies need to factor in the life-safety component to a much higher degree than they are currently.”

The Florida Public Service Commission has almost no regulatory authority over telecom and therefore doesn’t “have the jurisdiction to take any action,” a PSC spokesperson said. The FCC didn’t comment.

Florida's Santa Rosa County supports strengthening backhaul and other ways to make the system function better during and after disaster, said Communications Chief Scott Markel. The county was far enough west to be spared from Michael, he emailed: “Requirements are always better than recommendations when dealing with cellular components of public safety.”

Communications Workers of America agreed rules are needed. “Our investigation into the recovery process after Hurricane Michael made it clear that the FCC’s current framework for voluntary cooperation between wireless providers and local governments after a disaster is inadequate,” said CWA Strategic Research Associate Bianca Garcia in a statement. “Wireless companies should be required to develop robust plans to mobilize a highly-trained and professionally-certified workforce in the event of an emergency or disaster.” CTIA didn’t comment.

Bowen felt “extreme disappointment” with Verizon’s response to Michael, the Bay County fire chief said. The company said before the storm that it had a continuity plan and equipment specially built for such a disaster, but Bowen “didn’t see any of that,” he said. “There’s so many Verizon customers in our county,” and the carrier “being down for as long as they were really hampered the ability to let people to know where relief supplies were.” Local officials with Verizon had to use AT&T burner phones, he said.

Verizon had claimed service returned to pre-storm levels before that was true in his county, Bowen said. It took weeks to restore service to pre-storm levels, he said. One could send a text message after about one week and make a phone call after about two weeks, he said. Bowen reported no problems with other carriers. CWA highlighted Verizon restoration difficulties after Michael in FCC replies last month (see 1905210035).

Verizon is learning from Michael, a Category 5 storm that was the worst to make landfall in Panhandle history, the carrier’s spokesperson said. “In the last several months we have been evaluating and implementing new technologies which we used heavily in this storm's recovery including satellite as back-haul for mobile equipment like SPOTs (Satellite Pico Cells on Trucks) and COWs (Cells on Wheels). We have also carefully considered how and where we install fiber, which is critical to all network operations, and are working closely with local officials to bury more fiber than we have had previously in this area.”