Before we left all phone lines were down and all cell phones.
The local radio station did a great job and let us know that route was clear and open to get out of here.
On the way to the coast, my wife tried to call or text family and friends in the fire impacted areas, and no one answered nor responded. Then, she lost all 4g coverage for 24 hours. She is on AT&T.
Later on the west side of Bodega Bay, my cell phone on Verizon had connections. We texted family and friends to let them know we were safe.
Later that night, my wife’s premium Android never picked up the hotel’s wifi. My $100 Toshiba and ACER Chromebook worked with the house wifi most of the time.
Two adult sons are considered by their companies and critical managers. Their companies provide the latest Apple I phones and pay for supposedly some type of premium service from AT&T for one and Verizon for the others so they can be reached 24/7 if necessary. The local one’s phone was not available for over 24 hours, and the other one’s was not available until late Monday. So much for their premium high priced cell phones and lines.
I Bet there will be a lot of review after this one. BTW, more evacuations today for Sonoma and east Santa Rosa..the fires continue. Our fires are 65 contained for the La Porte Fire. The Cascade in Yuba County is the same or better. Pray for all of those that lost so much so quickly.
For those needing housing I wonder about scrapping the lots clear and putting in those container type houses as temporary housing for land owners there while they build. Makes sense as there is a shortage of housing in Santa Rosa before the fire. The county or city could put a limit on the type of housing of say three years to give everyone time to rebuild. Just need to hook them up to electric, water and sewer. Gives folks a sense of relief of where they are staying..comradity in staying in the same neighborhood and a sense of urgency to complete the rebuild to get out of living in a container-home. Its something anyway and might be more personal and do-able than FEMA trailers which might be in use due to the Hurricanes.