TW Mobile Engineering and its special mobile applications passed the test this week as fires raged all around the 8-year old company, forcing hundreds of thousands of evacuations, the destruction of more than 1,100 homes and more than a billion dollars in damage.

As many TW employees evacuated their homes the company responded to a request by Jill Olen, Director of the Office of Emergency Services for the City of San Diego, to put into action one of TW’s trademark vehicles. In coordination with the Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol, a long-time client of TW, the BORSTAR Van was called to action.

“The vehicle set up in 15 minutes,” said Allen Johnston, TW’s Director of Business Development.  “Immediately, recovery support teams were able to pull and print evacuation lists, resource and recovery contact lists, maps and other information to aid in disaster relief and situational analysis and coordination between agencies.”

The BORSTAR Van, originally built for Border Search Trauma And Rescue division of the Border Patrol, provides interoperable communications as well as computer connectivity and is a completely secure and independent mobile command, control and communications center. 

Acting as the primary hub for information dissemination at the San Diego evacuation center, the BORSTAR Van enabled evacuees to send faxes and email as well as stay updated with the latest news via an external plasma display, Johnston said.

“Our thanks go out to James Robertson and Jeff Knowles of the San Diego BORSTAR team for their support,” said Johnston, “as well as Commander Mendoza of the El Centro Team and Chief Jason Carroll who organized and facilitated the CBP response to San Diego’s request.”