ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Teams from Verizon headed out from Alpharetta, ready to restore cell service after the storm, while The Home Depot activated its emergency response command center in Cobb County.
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“Our primary concern is to address the needs of citizens and community members,” said Jeff Partin, Director of Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity for The Home Depot.
More than 100 Home Depot associates work in the command center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and are on call through the night. They have various jobs across the company, but while in the command center, they’re checking on stores in the storm’s path to make sure they have merchandise needed for communities to prepare and rebuild.
“There’s a lot of need for various building materials,” he said. “The folks in this room make sure that the appropriate types of materials are available to the community.”
The command center, located in The Home Depot Store Support Center on Paces Ferry Road, can direct supplies from distribution centers across the country to reach stores in storm-impacted areas.
“In our communities, Home Depot is associated with helping the community restore itself,” he said.
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Also on Thursday, Verizon Wireless deployed three trucks from its facility in Alpharetta, each hauling a satellite dish and wireless equipment.
Aman Duisek is one of the members of Verizon’s Dedicated Incident Response Team, or DIRT. They’re trained to operate chainsaws to clear away fallen trees and debris and get wireless communication restored as quickly as possible. He’s worked in other storms – Helene and Milton in 2024 – and finds emergency response rewarding work.
“It is very unpredictable, but you definitely know that you’re helping people, so you go there knowing that people are relying on you,” he said. “It’s very exciting in one sense, but at the same time, you never know what’s gonna happen. So you have to be ready.”
The crews went to Montgomery, Alabama, where they’ll monitor the storm’s progress and await orders to respond to areas in need. Verizon crews can set up temporary cell towers at sites where existing towers are damaged.
Jennifer Gasbarro, associate director of network operations for Verizon, said wireless communication is a vital lifeline for first responders and communities.
“It is critical infrastructure,” she said. “We know that it’s critical for our communities and our first responders, and the faster we can get connectivity restored, the better. We know that we’re an important part of site restoration and emergency response.”
Other Verizon teams, like those from Alpharetta, have deployed from across the South to restore wireless communication in hard-hit areas.
“We send not only these mobile assets, but we also send people in from other markets down to where these storms are coming in to restore connectivity as quickly as we possibly can,” Gasbarro said.
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