By WILLIAM MEAD
Los Alamos
Residents of Los Alamos County had a wake-up call Sunday. We’ve learned that all our communication modes depend on a single fiber-optic link. Even local phone calls were impossible, and access to emergency services was greatly limited.
I suspect the community alert system was down as well.
Without a local radio station, we were completely uninformed about the extent or likely duration of the black-out.
The County should improve communication services in two ways:
- Individual and mass communications within the county should be independent of trunk services; and
- Redundant trunk services are necessary.
