Telecom carriers continue to work on restoring service in the areas of West Maui impacted by devastatingly destructive wildfires. The official death toll stood at 96 as of early Monday, with hundreds of people still missing and the search and recovery efforts still in very early stages.
The Federal Communications Commission is tracking service and site outages in Lahaina, Kapalua, Napili-Honokowai, Kaanapali, Launiupoko and Olowalu, via data reported from network operators. According to the FCC’s data published as of early Sunday morning, there were 21 cell sites serving those areas of West Maui, and 20 of them were down.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that there is zero service, though, because operators have been working to bring in deployable sites with satellite backhaul to provide temporary service. AT&T has said that it has a site up to cover Lahaina—the equipment was housed on Maui and so it went up quickly to provide FirstNet Band 14 service in Lahaina, the epicenter of the worst damage. Verizon has set up deployables as well and T-Mobile US said today that over the weekend, it restored sites in Kaanapali and on Haleakalā to provide some coverage, including of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) operations center in Kaanapali.
T-Mo said that its Emergency Management team deployed generators and portable, satellite-backed Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) to restore connectivity in places with power outages and damaged fiber. “Additional microwave and satellite equipment is expected to arrive in Maui today, and the team is focused on providing connectivity to Maui’s west coast,” the carrier said in a Monday update. It extended unlimited talk, text and data for its postpaid and prepaid customers who aren’t already on unlimited plans through August 21.
The FCC reported that the Maui Police Department’s emergency answering point is “fully functional”—however, some 911 aren’t going through because the Lahaina switch is isolated and cell sites are down.
Temporary use of spectrum is also in play to compensate for loss of wireline connections. On Friday, the FCC granted special temporary permission to AT&T to use several frequencies for microwave backhaul from five cell towers, and also to support two Cell-on-Wheels (COWs) and three temporary microwave sites.
Verizon said that it has restored service along Highway 37 in Ulupalakua and Keokea and to the Upcountry (including Kula, Pukalani, Makawao, and along the north shore of Maui). Additionally, partial service is available to parts of West Maui from Maalaea and the Maui Chin to the South through Lahaina Civic Center to the North, according to the carrier.
“There is significant structural damage to cell sites serving Lahaina, so Verizon engineers are working to move a mobile cell site to restore partial service in that community,” Verizon indicated in a release, adding that its engineers moved tethered drones into the western parts of Maui over the weekend to support first responders and recovery efforts. Fiber connecting cell sites is out in the Honokowai area and Verizon has been working to get a satellite connection up—but, it warned, the network will be slower because it’s operating via satellite links, which don’t have the speed or capacity of fiber.
In a video posted to X (formerly Twitter), Verizon’s wireless network assurance manager for Hawaii, Corey Shaffer, gave a brief update, saying that the fire in West Maui “wave devastating to our transport facilities.”
“We have a cell site that was burned and a lot of fiber that’s been burned,” he said. “So our third-party fiber carriers are going to be repairing this for some time. … The team is working around the clock to do everything that we can to restore it and help the people of Maui.”
In terms of cable and wireline subscribers, a few have had service restored, according to the FCC’s figures. Last Wednesday, the day after the fires began, service was down for more than 25,000 wireline subscribers. That had been whittled down to about 16,700 subscribers as of yesterday morning.
As recovery work begins, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC also urged people and organizations working to clear debris and repair utilities to do their best to avoid further damage to communications infrastructure. “Debris clearing operations to remove downed trees, replace damaged utility poles, and open roadways often result in
significant, non-storm related damage to critical communications infrastructure,” the agency said in a release, asking that crews try to avoid cutting telecom cables that may be tangled in debris and check with authorities on what utility lines may be buried, to avoid additional damage and outages.
Verizon announced a $100,000 donation to Maui relief, and it’s offering free bottled water and charging to customers of any carrier at its Pu`unene retail store Kahului. All three carriers have text-to-give donation support in place, and in addition to network equipment, AT&T is also bringing in its “ROG the Dog” therapy dog to support first responders. T-Mobile said it will match donations made by its own employees to the American Red Cross through August 31. T-Mobile US said that in addition, it had made supplies available to evacuees and emergency personnel on Oahu, and it has a team traveling to Maui today.
