San Andreas, CA…The American Red Cross invites members of the news media and citizens of Calaveras County to a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating completion of the county’s new communications tower. The tower project a joint effort between the American Red Cross, Calaveras County Water District and the Sheriff’s Office that is designed to improve radio coverage and capabilities for first responders, while making the system more robust.

The tower project began after one of the county’s communications towers was damaged in the Butte Fire in September 2015. At that time a second tower was rendered inoperable during the fire because massive amounts of smoke disrupted solar panels that provide it with electricity.

The loss of the two towers caused an interruption to communication capabilities across approximately half of Calaveras County. Sheriff’s deputies and mutual aid unites responding to evacuated or endangered citizens had limited, if any, communications capabilities.

Thanks to the generosity of donors who supported Red Cross relief and recovery efforts during and after the Butte Fire, the Red Cross was able to provide a grant worth nearly $108,000 to fully fund the tower construction project.

The project was made possible through the cooperation of the Calaveras County Water District, Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office, Calaveras County Sheriff’s Volunteer Unit, Calaveras Information Technology Department, and the Friends of the Calaveras Sheriff’s Office.

Location: Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office, 1045 Jeff Tuttle Drive, San Andreas, CA 95249
Date: Friday, October 4, 2019
Time: 10 a.m.

For more information, contact Red Cross Disaster Program Manager Debbie Calcote at (209) 346-1854 or Red Cross Communications Director Steve Walsh at (916) 208-4058.

About the American Red Cross Gold Country Region:

The Gold Country Region serves a twenty-four county territory including Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba counties. For more information, visit redcross.org/GoldCountry. Stay up to date by following us on Twitter and Facebook (@ARCGoldCountry) or by visiting our blog at https://capitalcrosswords.com.