Supporting public safety
AT&T Honors First Responders, Turns on New Cell Sites in Independence
When Crisis Calls, AT&T Answers
April 15, 2026
Key insights
When the wind howls. When the rain pours. When the floods rise. When the snow turns to ice. When a natural or man-made disaster strikes your community, and even before, AT&T is prepared, proven, and ready to respond.
With more than $1 billion invested in disaster response innovation in the U.S. since its inception over 30 years ago, our Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) program is one of the largest in the industry. Its sole purpose – to rapidly restore connectivity to areas affected by disasters.
Prepared
Long before a disaster strikes, our teams are preparing. From monitoring our network and weather activity, to conducting regular readiness drills and exercises, our teams are equipped with the training and resources they need to best respond when crisis calls.
Global Technology Operations Center (GTOC)
The GTOC has visibility across the entirety of the AT&T Network 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This command-and-control center monitors and manages outages and incidents, communicating with the right teams and stakeholders when issues arise.
AT&T Weather Operations Center (AWOC)
Using in-house weather modeling and rich datasets, our team of meteorologists provide custom, near real-time analyses to help mitigate the risk of impact to the AT&T network and assets and guide the deployment of assets when teams deploy to the field. This information helps keep our employees and our network safe.
Readiness Training
Each year, our teams conduct large-scale training and readiness exercises to test our equipment, process, and technology. This training helps ensure we’re ready to respond quickly and seamlessly.
Proven
Since the NDR program launched in 1992, our teams have spent thousands of hours in the field, responding to countless events including natural disasters, man-made disasters, and large-scale planned events.
Texas Floods: In addition to supporting more than a dozen requests from public safety and providing health and wellness support, FirstNet ROG had a Strike Team on the ground actively supporting search and rescue teams on the frontlines where connectivity was needed the most when devastating floods hit Texas last summer.
Southern California Fires: The NDR team sprang into action in early 2025 when wildfires spread across the greater Los Angeles area. Our teams worked hand in hand with local public safety officials to strategically stage resources in anticipation of high fire danger scenarios, enabling these teams to effectively respond to the evolving situation. Our deployable and drone fleet played a key role in providing connectivity for public safety during the response effort.
When Disaster Strikes
Our commitment to the communities we serve doesn’t stop when a natural or man-made disaster occurs. The mission of the AT&T NDR Team is to quickly recover AT&T connectivity to areas affected by disaster.
Ready to respond
When the call comes, we’re ready to respond. AT&T is equipped with a fleet of more than 750 pieces of specialized response equipment and support vehicles that are stationed across the country and can quickly be deployed to respond to disaster situations. Depending on conditions, these assets can be on the move within hours to help restore commercial and emergency connectivity.
FirstNet Response Operations Group™ (ROG)
When disaster strikes, rapid and reliable communication is essential, especially for public safety. That’s why FirstNet®, Built with AT&T – the only network built with and for America’s first responders – is the only network with deployable assets dedicated exclusively for public safety. As the FirstNet Response Operations Group™ (ROG) guides the deployment of public safety’s assets, NDR primarily serves as the “boots on the ground,” ensuring that FirstNet assets get placed where first responders need connectivity most during emergencies.
Led by former first responders, ROG is directly linked to State Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) across the country and embeds within EOCs during disasters, serving as a public safety asset within the appropriate emergency support functions. FirstNet is the only network with a fleet of 190+ portable assets reserved solely for public safety.
Supporting Employees During Disasters
Our people are at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we created and oversee the AT&T Employee Relief Fund, which provides financial support to employees experiencing challenges beyond their control, including natural disasters. It’s funded by donations from our employees and matching grants from the AT&T Foundation.
The bottom line: Connectivity is always important, but in a crisis, every second counts.
FirstNet and the FirstNet logo are registered trademarks and service marks of the First Responder Network Authority. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.
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