CASE STUDY
Downtown Lahaina devastated by wildfires
The Hawaiian island of Maui fell victim to one of the deadliest infernos on record in August 2023 . This was brought on by Hurricane Dora , which passed 500 miles to the South – the wind blew down power lines and ignited overgrown brush .
The resulting fires swept across the island at a significant pace , resulting in many casualties and destroying the region ’ s homes , buildings and critical communications infrastructure .
With 19 out of 21 wireless cell sites that serve Kapalua , Napili-Honokowai , Kaanapali , Lahaina , Launiupoko , and Olowalu out of service , communication providers were desperate to fix their damaged network equipment .
Maui needed a resilient network to restore communications swiftly , all while navigating the harsh conditions of the blaze .
The lack of communications complicated rescue and recovery efforts . The wildfires subsequently brought down utility poles and cut off power , which made restoring communications a larger problem .
In remote areas that relied on wireless connectivity , cell towers surrendered to the heat and shut down .
With cell sites , one key issue is that a cell tower is a single point of failure – if the connection is interrupted the entire cell site goes offline .
Besides destroying cell sites , the wildfires also wreaked havoc on the fiber optic cables and other fixed services on the island used to backhaul the traffic to the cell sites .
When this happens , it can take days or even weeks to get the network operational again .
For first responders and those in charge of extinguishing the fires , having access to networking services that enable real-time updates and information is vital .
Maui relied heavily on wired Internet and telephone , along with cellular service for their voice and data communications – there was no public Wi-Fi to speak of .
According to an FCC report , over 25,000 subscribers were without related services .
With the county reluctant to activate its audible warning sirens due to fears that people would think a tsunami was coming , citizens ’ only hope of updates was through the Internet and social media .
62 INTELLIGENTCIO NORTH AMERICA www . intelligentcio . com