In the morning on September 27th, Field Operations Manager Alison Lowenthal, engineer Colin Miller, and our new apprentices, Cameron Langston and Rafferty Lincoln, headed up in the truck to see if we could get to the mountaintop where fire had threatened. It was Cameron’s first day at work — what a first day. Ralph Silveira, one of our top field staff, drove out, too, but had to head home with a flat tire. Over 2,000 acres were now burning, but the fire had moved south of our site, so we were hoping to reach our equipment.

Trying to get to Cruzio’s gear, but not yet allowed up, September 27th

The mountain facility doesn’t have a permanent generator, so we have to bring our own when power is down. Usually we have enough battery power to last out any outage, but in this case the power could be down for many days, PG&E said. Over a dozen nearby utility poles had burnt or fallen or both.

Cruzio needed to get the generator running to recharge the batteries before they ran out of juice.

Emergency personnel stopped our team partway up the winding mountain road. “Not safe yet.” We know there are two entrances to the site — and our customers are depending on us — so the crew drove down the mountain, onto Highway 17, and tried going in the north entrance, opposite where the fire was burning. Chris Frost, our Director of Technology and Infrastructure, coordinated with Cal Fire to determine the safest way up the mountain.

They stopped at Tomita Hill, where they took this photo of Loma:

Loma Fire September 27th

The unpaved roads on that side are even more winding. Once again Field Ops were stopped by Cal Fire staff, who told them “But if you go back around the other entrance, maybe you can get in that way.” So they drove all the way back down to 17, and back up again to where they’d started. Then they waited at the road block for a few hours.

Cruzio’s Colin Miller (center, in white tee shirt) at the road block

Delay was pushing the limits of our equipment. Back at Cruzio, we were watching (on internet monitors) as the power supplies drained away.

Mark Hanford, our Chief Systems Engineer, was re-routing all the customers he could away from Loma Prieta. Networks have some amount of flexibility — that’s why every site is important, and redundancy is crucial — so Mark was reconfiguring the network to route around the emergency. In a short time, he had moved almost all our customers away from the problem.

Then we waited to see if the power would go down before our crew could get in.

One side of the mountain was burned to ash

At 5:30 pm, half an hour was left on the battery. Time ticked away. 15 minutes. 10. At 6 pm, Mark said “Okay. Power can go off any second now.” Our team was still waiting at the Cal Fire stop, waiting for entry. Capacity on the batteries went to zero.

But miraculously our power didn’t go out. The batteries kept running. They kept going past their expected charge. Mark stayed at the office, waiting for the power to go off so he could check on his emergency network routing. 7 pm. 8 pm. The batteries didn’t die. Our guys were waiting on the mountain. 8:30 pm.

Finally, the batteries were out at 8:50. They had run on “empty” for two and half hours!

Then, just after battery power went out, we got word: Cal Fire was escorting Cruzio’s team up the hill in a convoy of fire and water trucks, and onto our site. It was stop-and-go all the way up the mountain as the fire was hard to work around. Although diminished at that time, some flames were only feet away from the vehicles.

“We could hear the fire like a jet engine,” recounted Colin Miller, “You could see the embers flying into the trees [near] where the vehicles were.” It was clear, though, that the fire was moving away and our team made it up the mountain safely.

It only takes 5 minutes to power up the generator. Our crew had it going in no time. Then they took turns watching all night, and sleeping in shifts, to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Up there on the tower, above the smoke the air was clear. After a long day of braving the smoky air and fire, Field Ops took the opportunity to end the night with some stargazing. Alison Lowenthal summarized the day: “It’s intense, but it’s actually a lot of fun. I love being up on Loma.”
Continue Reading: The Aftermath 

The Loma Fire still burned on Day 3, but had passed our site

Cruzio went through a tense Monday, when the fire started, with flames roaring past our hilltop facility. Then all day Tuesday Cruzio staff was waiting, watching and then racing to re-charge our backup batteries before power ran out. We didn’t completely avoid an outage, but the number of people affected was small and the effect brief.

We felt good about our performance and lucky we’d escaped more damage.

By Wednesday, conditions on Loma’s hilltop had stabilized. The fire still raged south of us — 4,000 acres burning that day — but our access to the site had become pretty routine. The road block was gone. We worked with other folks on the mountaintop, sharing resources and helping each other out.

Burned and black bushes were all around

PG&E told us that power would be off for a week or more, so we settled in for the long haul. Chris Frost, our Director of Technology and Infrastructure, went on TV to explain the situation.

For several days our staff took turns going up the mountain and maintaining the generators. It was a grind, though what we went through didn’t compare to people who’d lost homes or were displaced.

A lot of fast food was consumed and a lot of time was spent looking out over the charred landscape and drifting smoke. Our team saw a dozen or more utility poles burned black and leaning, clearly a big job for PG&E.

Over the next few days, we watched fascinated as PG&E lowered pole after pole from a helicopter into place on the steep mountainside. The utility’s ground crew guided the poles into place and quickly had the new infrastructure up.

Cal Fire bravely walking toward the burn. PG&E is fixing the pole behind them.

Then, well ahead of schedule, just after noon on Monday October 3rd, PG&E restored power to the mountaintop. Cruzio’s staff breathed a sigh of relief. Our saga was over for now.

A week later, at this writing, the fire is 95% contained and people have returned to their homes. In all, the fire destroyed 12 houses along with many outbuildings. Luckily, no one was injured.

Things to know about fire:

• A fire grows much faster than you’d ever imagine, especially in such dry conditions. Fire coming? Get out!
• Preparation is essential. A generous perimeter saved our gear. Our batteries and generator prevented a serious outage.
• Working together in these situations is key. All companies in the facility helped each other, making the situation much more bearable.
• PG&E really has their process down, they were extremely efficient.
• Cal Fire is a heroic organization. We owe a lot to them and we’re very grateful for all their help. Over 2,100 fire fighters came from around the state to work in challenging, steep terrain. As our staff member Colin said, “The firefighters were the most amazing thing, I just had this feeling of WOW! Being up there with them is so different from just knowing they’re up there.”

Photo credits for these posts: Chris Frost, Alison Lowenthal, Colin Miller, and our security camera.

Last night at the Coconut Grove, Think Local First hosted its Indie Business Expo. We saw many current customers and had a few inquires taken to find out more about Cruzio Internet. We met many more who unfortunately can’t yet get our services, but who are in areas that are on our radar for future installations such as Hidden Fortress Coffee Roasting in Watsonville. If everything goes through with Watsonville Community Hospital, many more business like Hidden Fortress in that area will soon have access to the fastest local internet.

The Expo was extremely successful with a long line even before doors opened. We saw some familiar faces; Allterra Solar and Good Times were stationed and ready for the bustling crowd of local business goers.

This was a fantastic opportunity for us to promote the Fiber Project. With only months away from breaking ground in the first neighborhood, interest is growing steadily. We had a multitude of questions about Fiber! Many visitors to our station certainly wanted to know how long it would take for us to get Fiber out to them, and, conveniently, a number of these individuals lived between downtown and Mission St – a great area to be talking about Fiber as they are closer to our initial neighborhood for Fiber implementation.

A big thank you to Think Local First for the opportunity to showcase our services at the event. As always, a fun time and a brilliant event for local businesses like Cruzio to promote what we all do for our community.

Since the City council voted unanimously to move forward with Gigabit-to-the-home fiber in January, we’ve been working non-stop on the Santa Cruz Fiber Project. In fact we’ve been so busy with it we’ve been totally neglectful in keeping everyone updated. We’ll be sure to post regular updates from here on out.

So what’s been happening since? Lots!

Firstly, and most importantly, we’ve been locked away in our Santa Cruz Fiber Project underground bunker with our partners at the City, engaging in high-level cogitation, extreme fine-tuning and the general hashing out of every little detail of the project and the agreement. This is a BIG project and we want to make sure we’re doing everything right. They say you should measure twice and cut once. Well, with this project we’re measuring a dozen times before that first cut. It’s that important. We’re making great progress and still absolutely expect to be breaking ground as we roll into 2017.

We’re also meeting with as many fiber electronics manufacturers, construction companies, engineers and designers as we can. At Cruzio we’ve been building and running broadband networks since before there were broadband networks, but there’s always room to learn more about the next wave of tech. The companies we’re talking to are on the cutting edge of fiber-to-the-premise deployments nationwide. We’ve talked to the designers, owners and suppliers for many of the biggest, most successful (and not so much) networks in the country. We’re determined to make sure that Santa Cruz’s network is the absolute best.

Speaking of information gathering, a couple of weeks ago Cruzio’s project team, and the City of Santa Cruz’s team, all headed out for a week in Austin, Texas for the Broadband Communities Summit 2016. Everyone who is anyone in community broadband was there. We all learned a ton, met some great people and got lots and lots of encouragement from folks building the same kinds of community-owned broadband networks all over the country. It was pretty inspiring to hear from all those community leaders and it felt great to get some props for the way we’re approaching the Santa Cruz Fiber Project.

We also got major kudos out in Austin because it happened to coincide with the announcement of more Gigabit goodness in Santa Cruz. Cruzio and the City have teamed up with Siklu wireless to jump start the Gigabit project by serving 17 community, residential and business sites with Siklu’s gigabit, millimeter-wave wireless hardware. This is the first project of its kind in the country and we couldn’t be happier to get this quick an easy win for the city. You can read all about the project here and here.

That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone for all the support so far. In the summer, we plan to open up for pre-signups and we’ll want as many folks as possible to commit to the service and help us plan out the schedule of the build. The first people on board will be guaranteed service faster than anyone else. And, most importantly, the more people who sign up quickly, the lower the cost will be for every single subscriber.

Thanks again. Go Go Gigabit!

Santa Cruz Mayor, Don Lane, called the vote the “Main Event” for the City Council meeting that took place on Thursday, December 9th.

Santa Cruz Economic Development Manager, J. Guevara, and Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb first addressed the stages behind the project and what involvement would be needed from the city.

Speaking for Cruzio and discussing the importance and benefits of gigabit Internet was their co-CEO, Peggy Dolgenos.

The floor was opened up for other speakers and a few people from the community stepped up and showed their support. Afterward, the City Council expressed their thoughts, all showing support for the project. The vote was unanimous to proceed with the Santa Cruz fiber project.

More details to come!

More numbers from our SantaCruzFiber.com survey (if you haven’t taken it, please do, it’s right here).

As of November 27th, we had gotten well over 1500 responses to work with and lots of interesting numbers.

In the graph below, we can see which neighborhoods are participating the most. We’re looking at the Upper West Side leading the pack with Nobel and Spring Street at or near the top of the pile. You rock, UWS!

And if you look at the list below the chart, you’ll see that even a small street can make a big difference. Word of mouth is our most effective way of spreading the news, so be sure to tell your neighbors to take the survey!

If the graph is a little fuzzy, the numbers are these, from the neighborhood with the fewest surveys to the one with the most: Harvey West 8, San Lorenzo 20, Beach Hill 25, South Pacific 31, Riverside 32, West Harbor 33, Carbonera 39, Prospect Heights 46, Downtown North 47, Neary Lagoon 51, Market 53, South Seabright 57, Ocean View 57, Western Drive 59, Gault 61, Chestnut/Laurel 62, No Answer/Garbled 62, Natural Bridges 64, East Morrissey 65, Lower Escalona 65, Lower Bay 66, Lighthouse 82, Mitchell’s Cove 86, Branciforte 87, Spring Street 92, Mission Bay 93, Nobel 96.

In case you’re curious about what street has completed the most surveys, check the tables below. Hagar Court leads all streets in the City of Santa Cruz with 26 surveys completed — just ahead of another Upper West Side street, Western Drive. Most of us know where Western Drive is, or Escalona (3rd place). But Hagar Court? Here’s a map showing where it is and how relatively short the street is, which leads us to the statement:

Hagar Court is Awesome!

Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 
Hagar Ct 	26 	Dufour St 	11 	Esmeralda Dr 	8 	Palo Verde Terrace 6 
Western Dr. 	25 	Frederick St 	11 	Fair Ave 	8 	Peyton St 	6 
Escalona Drive 	23 	Market St 	11 	Lee St 	 	8 	Pine St 	6 
Ranch View Rd 	22 	Mission St 	11 	Myrtle St 	8 	Ross St 	6 
Delaware Ave 	20 	N Branciforte Ave 11 	Park Way 	8 	Soquel Ave 	6 
King St 	19 	N Pacific Ave 	11 	Plateau Ave 	8 	Torrey Pine Terrace 6 
Laurel St 	17 	National St 	11 	San Juan Ave 	8 	Archer Dr 	5 
Marnell Ave 	17 	Pelton Ave 	11 	Spring St 	8 	Avalon St 	5 
Linden St 	16 	Windham St 	11 	Washington St 	8 	Bradley Dr 	5 
Pacific Ave 	16 	Windsor St 	11 	Alta Ave 	7 	Buena Vista Ave 5 
Walk Circle 	16 	Cayuga St 	10 	Hagemann Ave 	7 	Campbell St 	5 
Dickens Way 	15 	Felix St 	10 	Harbor Dr 	7 	Carbonera Dr 	5 
Fairmount Ave 	15 	Grandview St 	10 	Lighthouse Ave 	7 	Cedar St 	5 
Highland Ave 	15 	Maple St 	10 	Meadow Rd 	7 	Clinton St 	5 
Pacheco Ave 	15 	Morrissey Blvd 	10 	Ocean St 	7 	Coulson Ave 	5 
Broadway 	14 	Seabright Ave 	10 	Peach Terrace 	7 	Darwin St 	5 
High Street 	14 	W Cliff Dr 	10 	Stanford Ave 	7 	Gharkey St 	5 
Chestnut St 	13 	Walnut Ave 	10 	Trescony St 	7 	Grant St 	5 
Isbel Dr 	13 	Wilkes Circle 	10 	2nd St 	 	6 	Hanover St 	5 
Oxford Way 	13 	Alamo Ave 	9 	Bethany Curve 	6 	Ingalls St 	5 
Arroyo Seco 	12 	Ocean View Ave 	9 	Getchell St 	6 	Meder St 	5 
Bay St 	 	12 	Seaside St 	9 	Goss Ave 	6 	Naglee Ave 	5 
Caledonia St 	12 	Segri Pl 	9 	Jackson St 	6 	Ortalon Ave 	5 
John St 	12 	Trevethan Ave 	9 	Laguna St 	6 	Pearl St 	5 
Laurent St 	12 	Van Ness Ave 	9 	Lincoln St 	6 	Rigg St 	5 
Nobel Dr 	12 	Younglove Ave 	9 	Miramar Dr 	6 	S Branciforte Ave 5 
Sumner St 	12 	3rd St 	 	8 	Monterey St 	6 	San Jose Ave 	5 
California St 	11 	Auburn Ave 	8 	Nevada St 	6 	Serra Ct 	5 
Columbia St 	11 	Belmont St 	8 	Palmetta St 	6 	Union St 	5 

Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 
Woodrow Ave 	5 	Pine Pl 	4 	Heath St 	3 	Allegro Dr 	2 
Younger Way 	5 	Poplar Ave 	4 	Hebard St 	3 	Arbor Ave 	2 
4th Ave 	4 	Riverside Ave 	4 	Jessie St 	3 	Arroyo Pl 	2 
Almar Ave 	4 	Rockridge Ln 	4 	Josefa Way 	3 	Beach St 	2 
Alta Vista Dr 	4 	Roxas St 	4 	Kalkar Dr 	3 	Beachview Ave 	2 
Annie Ln 	4 	Seaview Ave 	4 	La Fonda Ave 	3 	Blackburn St 	2 
Anthony St 	4 	Shaffer Rd 	4 	Ladera Dr 	3 	Bronson St 	2 
Belvedere Terrace 4 	Swift St 	4 	Magnolia St 	3 	Brook Ave 	2 
Berkeley Ct 	4 	Village Circle 	4 	Marine Parade 	3 	Brookwood Dr 	2 
Berkshire Ave 	4 	Vista Bella Dr 	4 	Moore St 	3 	Calvin Pl 	2 
Brookside Ave 	4 	3rd Ave 	3 	Prospect Heights 3 	Carbonera Ct 	2 
Centennial St 	4 	Anderson St 	3 	Quarry Ln 	3 	Cardiff Pl 	2 
Center St 	4 	Baldwin St 	3 	Rincon St 	3 	Catalpa St 	2 
Chace St 	4 	Berkeley Way 	3 	River St 	3 	Chico Ave 	2 
Crestview Terrace 4 	Berry St 	3 	Rocky Rd 	3 	Chrystal Terrace 2 
E Cliff Dr 	4 	Blaine St 	3 	Sacramento Ave 	3 	Continental St 	2 
Errett Circle 	4 	Button St 	3 	Santa Cruz St 	3 	Cooper St 	2 
Fridley Dr 	4 	Calcita Dr 	3 	Seton Way 	3 	Dakota Ave 	2 
Hillcrest Terrace 4 	California Ave 	3 	Sheldon Ave 	3 	Dimond St 	2 
Liberty St 	4 	Chilverton St 	3 	Sherman St 	3 	Encinal St 	2 
Locust St 	4 	Clark Ave 	3 	Spruce St 	3 	Estates Dr 	2 
Majors St 	4 	Clay St 	3 	Stockton Ave 	3 	Everson Dr 	2 
Melrose Ave 	4 	Cliff St 	3 	Storey St 	3 	Gault St 	2 
Merced Ave 	4 	De La Costa Ave 3 	Sunset Ave 	3 	Glenwood Ave 	2 
Mountain View Ave 4 	Echo St 	3 	Wavecrest Ave 	3 	Hagemann Ct 	2 
Nanna Ct 	4 	Effey St 	3 	Wendell St 	3 	Hall St 	2 
Olive St 	4 	Elm St 	 	3 	Acacia Way 	2 	Harmony Ct 	2 
Otis St 	4 	Emeline Ave 	3 	Acadia Ave 	2 	Hollywood Ave 	2 
Pennsylvania Ave 4 	Forest Ave 	3 	Algea St 	2 	Hubbard St 	2 

Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 	Street 	# of Surveys 
Hunolt St 	2 	Surfside Ave 	2 	college 8 Rd 	1 	Highland Ct 	1 
Iowa Dr 	2 	Sutphen St 	2 	Coral St 	1 	Hugus Ave 	1 
James St 	2 	Swanton Blvd 	2 	Crespi Ct 	1 	Isbel Ct 	1 
Jeter St 	2 	Sylvar St 	2 	Cypress Ave 	1 	Jenne St 	1 
Jewell St 	2 	Tosca Terrace 	2 	Cypress Park 	1 	Kennan St 	1 
Kenneth St 	2 	Tree Frog Ln 	2 	Dake Ave 	1 	Koshland Way 	1 
Kirby St 	2 	Via Hermosa 	2 	Delaveaga Park Dr 1 	Las Ondas Ct 	1 
Logan St 	2 	Weeks Ave 	2 	Dellview Ave 	1 	Laurel St Ext 	1 
Main St 	2 	Westmoor Ct 	2 	Donna Ct 	1 	Limestone Ln 	1 
Mariner Park Way 2 	Woods St 	2 	Doyle St 	1 	Los Altos Ct 	1 
Mason St 	2 	1st Ave 	1 	Easterby Ave 	1 	Mary Case Ln 	1 
McMillan Ct 	2 	1st St 	 	1 	Escalona Ct 	1 	May Ave 	1 
McMillan Dr 	2 	2nd Ave 	1 	Esmeralda Ct 	1 	Mesa Ln 	1 
McPherson St 	2 	38th Avenue 	1 	Eucalyptus Ave 	1 	Miller Ct 	1 
Mentel Ave 	2 	Anita St 	1 	Fairview Pl 	1 	Minnie St 	1 
Neary St 	2 	Barson St 	1 	Fernside St 	1 	Misty Ct 	1 
Northrop Pl 	2 	Baymount St 	1 	Fieldcrest Ln 	1 	Mott Ave 	1 
Oregon St 	2 	Bayona Drive 	1 	Francis Ct 	1 	Mountain View Ct 1 
Pasture Rd 	2 	Bellevue St 	1 	Front St 	1 	Murray St 	1 
Pilkington Ave 	2 	Benito Ave 	1 	Gilbert Ct 	1 	Oak Way 	1 
Pioneer St 	2 	Bixby St 	1 	Gina Ct 	1 	Oriole Ln 	1 
Plymouth St 	2 	Burton Dr 	1 	Glenview St 	1 	Ortalon Circle 	1 
Redwood St 	2 	Camille Ln 	1 	Glover St 	1 	Owen St 	1 
Rooney St 	2 	Canfield Ave 	1 	Graham Ave 	1 	Park Ave 	1 
Sadi St 	2 	Cardiff Ct 	1 	Green St 	1 	Parnell St 	1 
Scenic St 	2 	Carl Ave 	1 	Hammond Ave 	1 	Pendegast Ave 	1 
Seaborg Pl 	2 	Claremont Terrace 1 	Harrison Ave 	1 	Phelan Ct 	1 
Southview Terrace 2 	Cleveland Ave 	1 	Heller Drive 	1 	Plum St 	1 
Suburbia Ave 	2 	Coalinga Way 	1 	Hiawatha Ave 	1 	Potrero St 	1 

Street 	# of Surveys 
Princeton St 	1 
Pryce St 	1 
Rankin St 	1 
Rathburn Way 	1 
Refugio Rd 	1 
Reno Way 	1 
Roger Dr 	1 
Roosevelt Terrace 1 
San Lorenzo Blvd 1 
Shelter Lagoon Dr 1 
Stoneybrook Way 1 
Stoneycreek Rd 	1 
Suburbia Ct 	1 
Sunnyside Ave 	1 
Sunnyslope Ct 	1 
Taylor St 	1 
Towne Terrace 	1 
Trinity St 	1 
Vernon St 	1 
Wanzer St 	1 
West Ave 	1 
Westmoor Dr 	1 
Woodland Way 	1 
	

Date: November 6th
Time: 6pm-9pm
Where: 877 Cedar St. #150, Santa Cruz

Working hard by the ocean.

Cruzio loves Santa Cruz and that means we love surfing! This past weekend, surfer from all over the world descended on Santa Cruz for the longest-running surf event in Northern California, the O’Neill Cold Water Classic!  It’s a Santa Cruz tradition and, as we have for the past several years, Cruzio was on the scene helping make it all happen. Thanks to our awesome tech team everyone at the event was able to stay connected, and folks unable to attend could stream the whole thing live online. Check out some photos we managed to snap while out at the Cold Water Classic 2015.

Camera crew getting the shots for those who couldn’t be here!

Continue reading →