In an interview with Techwire and via email, Colette Curtis, assistant to Paradise Town Manager Lauren Gill, discussed the town’s IT infrastructure prior to the blaze, how it has changed since and shared lessons learned from the conflagration, which destroyed much of the town of 26,500. There’s been no official count since, but town executives estimate the current population at 4,000 to 5,000. The blaze didn’t burn the Paradise Town Hall or its police building, but dealt a tremendous blow to connectivity because telephone and power lines were down. Because of that, officials rented the Old Municipal Building from the city of Chico and evacuated their facilities, returning in February 2019. Among the takeaways:
• Paradise had what Curtis described as “adequate” infrastructure that enabled effective communication. However, it had just one IT staffer, Josh Marquis; and he had indicated roughly two weeks before the fire that he would be taking a position at the city of Chico. Subsequently, however, Marquis “graciously offered to stay on to help,” Curtis said via email. The fire left many employees without email and phone extensions for several weeks, but officials were able to restore their services in Chico.
“Our online presence remained constant in that we were always able to access our website and social media accounts,” Curtis said via email.
• Having just one IT staffer also meant Paradise had a plan for when he was on vacation. The town already contracted with Chico-based Stratti for backup — and after the fire, officials decided to contract with the company for all IT needs. The company offers complete IT solutions to “emerging to mid-sized businesses,” per its website, and works with more than 400 clients in California and nationally. Town officials handled the restoration through their contract with Stratti, Curtis said, while coordinating with Pacific Gas & Electric Co., AT&T and Comcast. Town staff now handle Paradise’s website and social media and Stratti handles all other aspects including procuring hardware like computers.
“It definitely was better than it could have been if it was someone coming in cold. Although it was unbelievably challenging,” Curtis said of expanding the town’s work with Stratti.
Stratti CEO Brent Largent told Techwire tight turnarounds during the evacuation and return made the project challenging -- particularly as the company was working simultaneously with town, Butte County and Paradise Irrigation District officials to stand up the Building Resiliency Center (BRC) in an empty building. The BRC convened local agencies in an effort to streamline residents’ permitting processes to rebuild.
• The disaster offered several lessons learned, the assistant to the town manager said — underscoring the extreme need to have “a backup plan for everything, including the need to evacuate buildings you never thought would need to evacuate.” She also recommended governments create or maintain the ability for all staff to work remote if absolutely necessary.
• Relationships become crucial during a disaster, but it’s important to establish them before a crisis, Curtis said. Paradise’s historically strong relationships with neighboring communities and Butte County helped as it established remote work areas — turning to Chico to rent workspace and continuing to rely on Marquis for a time.
