A Peachtree City company helped officials in Jefferson Parish, La. establish phone and email communications after Hurricane Gustav hit several weeks ago.

The hurricane cut off power, phones, radio and water service, but the phones and radio transmissions were up in a matter of minutes after the CommsFirst team was deployed, the company said.

CommsFirst uses a satellite-based technology that’s also solar powered. The units are contained in satellite-equipped sport utility vehicles and a backpack loaded with portable communications gear.

The deployment after Gustav helped provide phone, radio and data networking service for fire, police, sheriff, EMT, medical and government personnel along with the Army National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
A CommsFirst employee was flown to the island of Grand Isle on a parish helicopter, explained Michael Helfrich, deployment team leader for CommsFirst.

“Within 15 minutes of touching down, local officials were reconnected with the outside world using the CommsPack’s satellite-based, solar-powered network for phone and email access,” Helfrich said.

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