Keeping You Connected During Severe Weather and Natural Disasters
When severe weather or a natural disaster is forecast or has a potential effect on your area, you can trust Consolidated Communications will closely monitor the event and be prepared to take action.
Guided by Consolidated’s emergency preparedness plans and years of industry experience, our highly skilled team and redundant fiber network ensures our customers can continue to rely on us, even throughout a critical event.
Consolidated’s emergency preparedness plan includes:
- Closely monitoring and tracking potential storm and disaster risks.
- Maintaining back-up power supplies and generators to keep services up even when commercial power is out.
- Ensuring availability of fuel for fleet and emergency generators for the duration of a storm and its aftermath.
- Taking inventory of supplies needed for plant and network restoration and supplementing where necessary.
- Placing emergency network supplies throughout company facilities.
- Double-checking all safety equipment and supplies are in place.
To safeguard the reliability of our network and services during a weather event or other incident, Consolidated is continually caring for and investing in its network by:
- Upgrading equipment and electronics to platforms that utilize the latest technologies and provide technicians real-time visibility into the health and status of the network.
- Enhancing network sustainability by bonding and grounding underground equipment.
- Providing redundant pathways for increased connectivity.
- Ensuring the ability to reroute network traffic when needed.
In wildfire-prone areas, some additional precautions Consolidated takes to protect its fiber network include:
- Regularly trimming weeds and clearing brush away from all equipment sites.
- Checking fiber lines for potential heat and fire risks.
- Removing vegetation in vehicle parking areas to avoid possible combustion from exhaust systems.
If an emergency or crisis does impact service, Consolidated Communications will initiate its Emergency Operations Center to support first responders, as the top priority, and take care of customers’ needs and any service issues as soon as it’s deemed safe for our teams.
How You Can Prepare for Severe Weather and Natural Disasters
- Have a plan – where will you take shelter in your home? What number will you call in the event of an emergency? Where will you meet if something happens while everyone is not at home?
- Put together an emergency kit that includes water, canned or non-perishable food items, a can opener, a flashlight, a battery-powered radio, extra batteries, dust masks, a whistle and first-aid supplies.
- Be sure your cell phone is charged and consider investing in a portable charger.
- Store important documents in a fire and waterproof case.
- Consider flood insurance if you live in flood-prone areas.
For more information on how to prepare for severe weather or natural disasters, check out these National Weather Service Safety Tips.