PRESS RELEASE
HARDMAN, Ore. — The Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team recently deployed in support of more than 6,800 first responders battling 15 wildfires in Oregon and Washington.
This deployment marks the team’s latest response to a request for support from public safety agencies engaged in emergency response operations. In the first seven months of 2024, the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team has responded to nearly 800 such requests from more than 400 different agencies in 44 states.
The team delivered a Satellite Picocell on a Trailer (SPOT) and multiple other Verizon Frontline solutions to the Morrow County Sheriff’s Department in Oregon to help provide first responders on the front lines of fire response and containment operations with critical voice and data service. SPOTs were also deployed to wildfires in the Eugene, Oregon and Spokane, Washington areas.
SPOTs are rapidly deployable units that can provide wireless network coverage in remote areas where connectivity can prove challenging, like the mountainous and densely wooded terrain in Oregon and Washington. SPOTs have the capability to provide mission critical cellular and Wi-Fi coverage with satellite backhaul.
In addition to SPOT trailers, the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team provided on-scene public safety agencies across Oregon and Washington with nearly 200 additional Verizon Frontline solutions.
The team is also supporting first responders battling to contain the Durkee Fire in Baker and Malheur Counties in Oregon, currently the largest wildfire in the contiguous 48 states at over 288 thousand acres.
“I’m proud of our team’s swift response to requests for support from the first responders battling these fires,” said Chandler Martello, a senior manager with the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team. “As always, our team remains ready to provide our public safety partners the mission-critical communications support they need when and where it’s needed.”
The Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team provides on-demand, emergency assistance during crisis situations to government agencies and emergency responders on a 24/7 basis at no cost to the supported agencies. Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team members set up portable cell sites, Wi-Fi hotspots, charging stations and other Verizon Frontline devices and solutions that enable communications and/or boost network performance.
Verizon Frontline is the advanced network and technology built for first responders – developed over three decades of partnership with public safety officials and agencies on the front lines – to meet their unique and evolving needs.