Disconnect déjà vu: Los Alamos hit with second blackout in a week
Los Alamos residents experienced their second communications blackout in a week when contractors severed another Lumen Technologies fiber optic line Monday while working on the NM 4 water transmission line replacement project. The latest outage occurred in a different location — about 1,000 feet — from the March 11 incident, but both outages happened while crews worked on the same construction project.
County officials said that upon investigation, they determined Lumen had properly followed a tracer wire used to mark the underground fiber cable, but wire and fiber still separated for unknown reasons. “Without tracer wire attached, fiber optic line has no traceable signal for locators to detect,” said a press release from the County’s public information office. “The separation of the two was not something that could be detected during the underground locate and line marking process.”
In other words, even though contractors were following proper line location protocols, the fiber optic cable wasn’t in its documented position due to previous repair work.
Faster emergency response
Leslie Bucklin, assistant public information officer for the County, said several improvements to the emergency response have been implemented since last week’s outage.
“After assessing last week’s outage and thinking through things we could do better, we identified we have a mobile Starlink unit,” Bucklin said. “We’re setting it up at the stage at Ashley Pond so that people have a place they can go if they need internet access.” The county also posted the login information on social media, and posted it in the area.
The County also deployed electronic message boards more quickly, immediately updated the 1610 AM emergency radio station, and added enhanced messaging about available public Wi-Fi options and how to activate Wi-Fi calling features on smartphones.
Beverly Simpson, emergency manager for the County, also said that multiple communications systems remain in place for true emergencies and that 911 services remained fully operational.
“SOS calling still goes through to dispatch, we tested that to be sure,” Simpson said. “It hits a satellite and then comes to us.”
Backup systems for emergencies
Simpson detailed additional emergency response capabilities that would activate if a communications blackout coincided with a major emergency like a wildfire.
“We utilize ham radio operators in the event of an emergency. We also have a backup conventional system, UHF and VHF,” Simpson said. “Our radios are currently fine. So public safety is not an issue as far as communication with each other.”
For large-scale emergencies, Simpson explained the County would reach out to the Department of Homeland Security Emergency Management to deploy “cell on wheels” units — large mobile cell towers that could restore service to affected areas.
“If we were in the middle of a fire, people would already be prepared because we had the ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ program, and we’d have already prepared them to evacuate,” Simpson said.
The County’s emergency communications systems include backup routing to Santa Fe in case the local dispatch center becomes overwhelmed. Simpson also said that County staff regularly practice in-person notification procedures for emergencies when electronic communications are unavailable.
However, there was a snag using old-fashioned radio for emergency communication during a previous blackout: The AM 1610 emergency radio station wasn’t reaching White Rock, leaving residents with only static. To investigate, Simpson planned to meet with school officials at Chamisa Elementary School, where the backup transmission site was located.
She said that the aging system sometimes played static or outdated looped messages during updates and required manual resets. “I literally have to go up onto the roof to change out flash drives… then crawl up and reset the system.”
The jurisdictional challenge
One complication in addressing Los Alamos’ communications vulnerability is the complex web of jurisdictions in and around the county.
The fiber line that was cut is outside Los Alamos County boundaries and isn’t owned by the County. It runs through multiple jurisdictions, including the San Ildefonso Pueblo, Santa Fe County, and areas controlled by the Department of Transportation.
“We have pueblos, national parks, national forest,” Bucklin said. “It’s a common challenge.”
Simpson further elaborated on the jurisdictional tangle: “NM 4 is Department of Transportation until the sign for Los Alamos County. We’re surrounded by LANL property, DOE with the Truck Route and Pajarito Road, and Santa Fe County with San I on top of it.”
This ownership patchwork complicates infrastructure repair and improvement efforts, as the County has limited authority over telecommunications equipment outside its boundaries.
Business and personal impacts
Officials acknowledged the serious impact on businesses and residents. “It’s more than an inconvenience, it’s loss of income,” Bucklin said, responding to concerns about businesses unable to process payments.
Bucklin said that Monday was also payroll day for many employers, which compounded the impact of the outage.
To address these concerns, the County has reached out to the Chamber of Commerce and Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation about business continuity planning and personal preparedness.
“We’re really talking about continuity of business,” Simpson said. “We’ve started presentations about personal preparedness for residents and businesses.” She said that Starlink systems are available to residents as backup options for about $50 per month.
Some residents are finding their own solutions to maintain connectivity during outages though. Howard Watson, a local resident, recommends considering cellular service providers that use different infrastructure.
“Boost is a subsidiary of EchoStar, which merged with Dish network on 12/31/2023. In Los Alamos, they operate on AT&T network, which I believe is separate from the Lumen network,” Watson wrote in a message to Boomtown. “Maybe ditch the family plans (one network) and have 2 networks per household — one with T-Mobile/Sprint, one via AT&T.”
Watson said that Boost unlimited plans cost about $25/month, compared to Starlink's approximately $120/month. “I'm not an expert, but I did fact check with Boost that they use the AT&T network here,” he said.
While the County is exploring deploying Starlink at public locations during outages, having household-level redundancy through different service providers could help residents maintain some connectivity during future incidents.
Why this keeps happening
The recurring communications blackouts have left many residents wondering who is at fault and why Los Alamos, home to a premier national science laboratory, faces such basic connectivity challenges.
Simpson points to aging infrastructure as a primary culprit. “It's old infrastructure,” she said simply.
But that pushes the question further: Why has this problem been allowed to persist for so long?
The answer involves multiple factors that have created a perfect storm of vulnerability:
First, Los Alamos relies almost entirely on a single fiber optic backbone owned by Lumen Technologies, a private company. When this backbone fails, there is currently no effective backup system for most residential and business communications.
Second, much of this critical infrastructure runs through areas outside County jurisdiction, limiting local government's ability to mandate improvements or maintenance standards.
Third, documentation of underground utility locations appears to be inconsistent or outdated, as demonstrated by the second outage where the fiber line wasn’t where records indicated it should be.
Fourth, while the county has been working on a solution since the 2022 outage, building new fiber networks takes years rather than months.
County officials wanted to be clear that the project workers, who they said were following proper protocols, are not to blame. “It's not really the fault of the contractor,” Bucklin said. “The line wasn't laying where it was supposed to be.”
Probably not the last time
County officials warn that for all these reasons, more outages are possible as the NM 4 project continues. The irony isn't lost on residents that the very project meant to eventually improve connectivity through new conduit installation is causing outages in the short term.
“The project does go to White Rock fire station,” Simpson said. “It’s quite a length.”
Bucklin added, “It’s now an active project site, and we don’t know what we’re going to find.”
The County is working to create additional redundancies in communications systems. Simpson said that her department is purchasing additional Starlink systems as backups, and the County will continue to deploy temporary solutions during outages.
The county also plans to update its Emergency Operations Plan’s communication annex once the new broadband infrastructure is in place, which will better address commercial service outages like the recent Lumen failures.
The long-term fix — the Los Alamos Community Broadband Network project — is progressing, with the first customers expected to have access by the end of the year. The project includes plans for physical redundancy through a separate fiber path in partnership with the San Ildefonso Pueblo.
“The solution is not to never cut the lines,” said Jerry Smith, broadband manager for Los Alamos County, during a previous interview. “The solution is to have redundancy.”
In the meantime, the County recommends residents prepare for potential future outages by:
Signing up for CodeRED alerts with multiple contact methods
Keeping a battery-powered AM radio for emergency information
Creating 72-hour emergency kits
Exploring backup connectivity options like Starlink or Boost for redundant service
Learning how to activate Wi-Fi calling features on cell phones
Is it OK to say holy shit here? Because, holy shit, this is amazing, in-depth, useful, *AND* completed right in the middle of a comms blackout. Nice work, and thank you.
Thank you very much for such a timely piece. All the questions buzzing around in my head today have pretty much been answered. The photos were very informative too.