SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk is donating Starlinks to those in need of Wi-Fi in California amid devastating wildfires that have left residents without internet or cellphone service.
Nonprofit rescue group Grey Bull Rescue met with Musk and first responders over the weekend to help set up the Starlink satellite devices in the Los Angeles area.
“Effective communication is essential in any crisis, war, or disaster—especially in remote and devastated areas where communication infrastructure is destroyed like we see here in California,” Grey Bull Rescue Chair Bryan Stern told Fox News Digital in a Monday statement. “Yesterday, Grey Bull Rescue was honored to assist the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) by securing Starlink mini units to provide them with critical communications in areas devastated by wildfires.”
Stern noted, however, that LACFD and other emergency services agencies in California “have been asking for Starlink for quite some time for expressly this type of scenario,” but red tape got “in the way of this mission-critical need of effective disaster communications for first responders.”
Musk announced the Starlink donations on Jan. 9. On Sunday, the billionaire Tesla founder and CEO said that he would be donating Cybertrucks to impacted areas as well.
“Apologies to those expecting Cybertruck deliveries in California over the next few days,” he wrote on X, which he owns. “We need to use those trucks as mobile base stations to provide power to Starlink Internet terminals in areas of LA without connectivity. A new truck will be delivered end of week.”