Washington state emergency officials are using SpaceX satellites (white, center) to provide internet access in Malden, Wash., after wildfires took out most of the small town in Eastern Washington. The SpaceX device was set up at Ziply Fiber’s office. (Washington Emergency Management Division Photo)

SpaceX is lending a helping hand to Washington state towns ravaged by recent wildfires.

The Washington Emergency Management Division is using the company’s Starlink satellites to provide public WiFi access in Malden, Wash., where a wildfire destroyed 80% of the small town earlier this month. The satellites are also being used in Western Washington near Bonney Lake, Wash. SpaceX is providing the service for free.

(Washington Emergency Management Division Photo)

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded to the tweet above:

Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband internet constellation that now consists of more than 600 spacecraft in low Earth orbit. SpaceX is nearing the start of a limited commercial service, which was promised as early as this year. Eventually, Starlink aims to provide global broadband internet access, and there are military applications as well. Amazon is also developing its own constellation called Project Kuiper.

The Starlink satellites are manufactured at the SpaceX facility in Redmond, Wash.

Steven Friederich, a public information officer with the Washington Emergency Management Division, said internet access in places such as Malden would be nearly impossible without the Starlink service. This is the first time the division has used the satellites.

“This is a device we could definitely utilize should we have more wildfires or even larger disasters, such as a Cascadia Subduction earthquake event, where communication problems would be a huge hurdle,” Friederich said.

Other telecommunications companies such as Ziply Fiber — which acquired Frontier’s Northwest operations earlier this year— are also providing free internet access to residents in Washington towns damaged by the wildfires, including Malden. Ziply also provided power and service to help get the state’s systems restored.

We’ve reached out to SpaceX for more details and will update this story if we hear back.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.