San Andreas, CA…A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 4th in front of CCSO headquarters in San Andreas.
It celebrated the completion of the county’s new communications site above Arnold. This new site is designed to improve radio coverage and capabilities of first responders. The American Red Cross expressed their commitment with funds after the 2015 Butte Fire would go back to our community. This grant of nearly $108,000 which funded this project. The project was made possible through the partnership of the Sheriff’s Office, Calaveras County Water District, Calaveras County Technology Services Department, and the Friends of the Calaveras Sheriff’s Office 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.

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.