Re: Hawaiian ILEC infrastructure and fire

[scott via NANOG <nanog () nanog org>]

On 8/11/23 3:17 AM, Eric Kuhnke wrote:
> Recently saw an aerial video where an entire neighborhood in Laihana had 
> burned down *except* for the concrete block structure small ILEC CO.
>
> Pictures I have seen of other ILEC sites in Hawaii closely resemble some 
> GTE sites in the Pacific Northwest (now Ziply), which makes sense with 
> the history of GTE in Hawaii.
>
> Does anyone have some more detailed photos or examples of a telecom site 
> that's survived while everything else around it is burned up?
>
> I'm looking to share this with some contacts in BC for rural telecom 
> purposes and disaster preparedness discussions.


Hey,

This email is delayed because we have all been busy not only with 
getting the network up, but also collecting tons of stuff to donate to 
the folks over there.  Many lost everything except the clothes on their 
back and what little they could carry.

That's a Hawaiian Telcom CO in Lahaina.  I work (again) for HT these 
days.  We have special air filters and air handlers.  The generators 
came on and kept everything going and air conditioned.  Once the poles 
were put up and the fiber strung we found all the equipment running just 
fine.

In that CO is a lot of stuff, but the main thing for the router guys was 
a Nokia ESS-7 chassis that has been running since around 2007. (approx)

We got connectivity to it from the core yesterday and are getting 
connectivity to the edges as I type.

Here is a photo a tech took.  They were the first allowed into the area 
after electric folks.  Notice the smoke everywhere and all the debris on 
the road.

surfer.mauigateway.com/lhna-co.jpg

scott