Situation Overview:
In the overnight hours between Oct. 9th and 10th, a series of wildfires rapidly swept through Northern California. According to authorities, these fires are the most deadly and devastating in California’s history. The wildfires have burned more than 217,000 acres; 40 people have been killed and 5,700 structures have been destroyed. The fires are producing unhealthy air quality in many parts of the impacted area. As progress has been made, many evacuation orders have been lifted; however, as of Sunday morning, nearly 75,000 people remain evacuated.
In a statement on Friday, Oct. 13, Pacific Gas & Electric said about 34,000 utility customers are without electricity service — and natural gas service to 47,000 customers has been shut off — mostly in Sonoma and Napa counties.
Though progress is being made, there are 15 large wildfires and degrees of containment vary. Reinforcements from other regions are helping firefighters, though winds during the weekend could challenge those gains. For more information, Cal Fire is publishing daily updates here.
Comcast’s Response and Support
Comcast instituted its cross-functional Incident Management Protocol in the very early morning hours of Monday, October 10 as soon as we became aware of the incident. The following activities have been underway since then. We will continue to update and add to this information as new activities are initiated.
For more information about Comcast’s overall response and restoration efforts, please visit: http://comca.st/2kRmlnf/ Our Twitter feed @ComcastCA is another good source of information.
Providing Services for Community and Emergency Response
- Comcast is providing a range of Internet, WiFi, Phone and Video service to 19 evacuation/community support centers.
- We can provide a full list of these sites upon request
- Comcast is providing services to 8 Emergency Response/Fire Command centers as follows:
- FEMA Santa Rosa HQ & County of Sonoma Emergency Services
427 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa
Comcast Service(s): Internet, 10 analog voice lines for fax machines
- Grass Valley Command Center
11228 McCourtney Rd., Grass Valley
Comcast Service(s): Internet, Phone
- CAL FIRE Command Center: Napa Valley Expo
575 3rd St., Napa
Comcast Service(s): Internet, WiFi
- Napa County Emergency Operations Center
Sheriff’s Office: 1535 Airport Blvd., Napa
Comcast Service(s): Internet
- County Health and Human Services (Local Assistance Center)
2751 Napa Valley Corporate Dr., Building A, Napa
Comcast Service(s): Internet
- Rohnert Park: CAL FIRE
1300 Valley House Dr., Rohnert Park
Comcast Service(s): Internet
- Santa Rosa Command Center
Sonoma County Fairgrounds @ 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa
Comcast Service(s): Internet, Phone
- Ukiah: CAL FIRE
1055 N State St., Room 501, Ukiah
Comcast Service(s): Internet
- Comcast has opened 78,500 free XFINITY WiFi hotspots throughout the California region
- For a map of XFINITY WiFi hotspots, which are located both indoors and outdoors in places such as shopping districts, parks and businesses, please visit: xfinity.com/wifi
- Comcast is partnering with local authorities to provide video service and TVs at numerous evacuation centers
Customers
- In this crisis, we consider it our mission and our imperative to treat customers with the utmost empathy, respect and compassion
- To accomplish this, we have initiated special protocols for our 5,000+ customer service agents so they are informed and prepared to service our customers during this difficult time
- Comcast has initiated proactive outreach via email and SMS text to impacted customers to provide support and answer questions
- During this crisis, Comcast will NOT charge fees for early termination, late fees, relocation fees or any other fees related to damaged or lost equipment
- We will work with our customers to resolve any issues they may be having as quickly and efficiently as we possibly can
- If a customer wants to suspend XFINITY services for an extended period of time, but would like to retain use of mobile apps such as Stream TV, Connect, My Account, XFINITY Home, and more, we’ll enable them to do so for up to four months and will significantly reduce their bills during this time
- A list of Frequently Asked Questions for customers can be found at https://california.comcast.com
- Residents needing to evacuate the area are encouraged to locate shelters through the Red Cross Shelter Finder
- Residents can send a text to 888777 with a ZIP code to receive text updates from local authorities
Facilities and Network
- Currently, Comcast is experiencing approximately 9,900 Residential service outages in 15 cities, as follows:
- Calistoga: 188
- Glen Ellen: 523
- Kenwood: 679
- Larkfield-Wikiup: 877
- Napa: 47
- Redwood Valley: 123
- Santa Rosa: 3,956
- Silverado Resort: 121
- Sonoma: 3,339
- Angwin, Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park, Willits, St. Helena have fewer than 10 outages each
- Comcast’s retail stores in Ukiah and Napa will remain closed until further notice; our Santa Rosa store has also been closed, but may open by early next week
- We currently have 500 Commercial (business) customers without service, some of which are power related
- Comcast is working in partnership with local authorities, as well as utility and other infrastructure and service providers to ensure that our restoration efforts can take place quickly, while working within safety guidelines and other incident response protocols
Employees
- Comcast has over 500 employees in the impacted areas
- Of those, 69 employees have been evacuated and numerous others remains on evacuation standby
- Several of our employees have lost their homes, one of whom was in Houston helping with Hurricane Harvey recovery
- We are supporting our employees in every way possible, from providing financial support for displacement costs to monitoring air quality and making staffing adjustments as needed
- As is always the case, safety is our overriding priority. We issue daily communications to our field teams, and ensure they are equipped with and know how to use the proper safety gear and are aware of and actively implementing all safety protocols
- In areas where air quality is a concern, we offer flexibility for employees and have installed additional filters in several buildings in an attempt to minimize the impacts of poor air quality on our staff
We proactively reached out to and have confirmed that all of our employees are accounted for; we have offered help to those impacted and continue to stand at the ready to assist.
