2021: Record year for Verizon Frontline public safety deployments

As first responders continue emergency response efforts in communities across multiple states following last week’s devastating tornadoes, the Verizon Response Team remains deployed in support of local public safety agencies to ensure they have the mission-critical communications capabilities they need.

This support, provided at no cost to the responding agencies and lasting as long as there is a need, is the latest in a series of 2021 deployments during which the Verizon Response Team delivered Verizon Frontline technology to first responders as they dealt with crises ranging from extreme weather events and wildfires to the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A year of unique challenges, 2021 saw the Verizon Response Team deploy more than 1,000 times to just over 700 communities across the country.

During these deployments, the team provided public safety agencies with nearly 9,000 Verizon Frontline devices and solutions ranging from repeaters, mobile hotspots, routers, smart devices and drones to dozens of deployable satellite solutions such as Satellite Picocells on Trailers (SPOTs). The number of solutions provided this year surpasses last year’s mark by more than 3,000 and represents a new high for the Verizon Response Team.

Beginning with a deployment to help provide communication capabilities for public safety agencies supporting the 2021 presidential inauguration - the Verizon Response Team’s first major deployment of the year - and lasting through today and current emergency response efforts, the 15 Verizon Response managers on this team continue to demonstrate Verizon Frontline’s lasting commitment to the first responder community. Other major response efforts this year included:

Wildfire response: responding to more than 128 wildfire events in 16 states

To help enable mission-critical voice and data service during fire mitigation efforts in locations from California and Colorado to Montana and Minnesota, the Verizon Response Team delivered close to 2,000 Verizon Frontline solutions to nearly 200 communities in 2021.

One of the 128 named wildfires the Verizon Response Team responded to, the Caldor Fire was among the largest wildfires in California history, burning more than 220,000 acres across El Dorado, Amador and Alpine counties between Aug. 14 and Oct. 21.

Hurricane response: 84 deployments across 13 states

During 2021, the Verizon Response Team supported public safety agencies and the communities they serve during four major hurricanes: Ida, Henri, Nicholas, and Elsa. Hurricane Ida led to a nationwide activation of the Verizon Response Team and saw 1,100 Verizon Frontline solutions delivered to nearly 70 public safety agencies as they dealt with the aftermath of the storm.

COVID-19 response: 178 deployments across 24 states

Since the vaccine began rolling out, Verizon Frontline solutions have been deployed in support of 158 agencies at various vaccination and testing sites. In 2021, the Verizon Response Team assisted public safety agencies with network support and loaned nearly 1,500 devices to partners in 73 cities including Los Angeles where, earlier this year, the Verizon Response Team provided support at Dodger Stadium, one of the nation’s largest mega-vaccination sites.

Additional Major Deployments:

In June, following the collapse of the Champlain Towers in Surfside, Fla., at the request of public safety officials on the scene, the Verizon Response Team delivered the advanced platforms and technology of Verizon Frontline to help facilitate interagency communication and assist the local community.

The Verizon Response Team has also deployed Verizon Frontline solutions in support of disaster response training exercises across the country including to PATRIOT 21, a week-long training exercise sponsored by the National Guard Bureau (NGB) at Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center and the Fort McCoy Total Force Training Center, Wisconsin. The annual exercise brings National Guard soldiers and airmen, civilian emergency management personnel, first responders, and industry partners like Verizon together to practice incident response operations based on simulated emergency scenarios.

During 2021, the Verizon Response Team also assisted in multiple search and rescue operations, winter weather and flooding emergency response efforts, and supported public safety agencies during major public events such as concerts and conventions.

Verizon Frontline is the advanced network and technology built for first responders – developed over nearly three decades of partnership with public safety officials and agencies – to meet their unique needs.

The Verizon Response Team provides on-demand, emergency assistance during crisis situations to government agencies, emergency responders, nonprofits and communities on a 24/7 basis. Verizon Response Team members set up portable cell sites, WiFi hotspots, free charging stations and other Verizon Frontline devices and solutions that enable communications and/or boost network performance.