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Backup Power in the Field: How Anker SOLIX Supports Rural Texas Emergency Management
Backup Power in the Field: How Anker SOLIX Supports Rural Texas Emergency Management
As the Atlantic hurricane season moves into its later months, emergency preparedness is often discussed in terms of household supplies and evacuation plans. For the agencies responding to wildfires, severe weather and other emergencies, preparedness also depends on something more basic: keeping essential equipment powered wherever the work takes them.
As part of its National Preparedness Month campaign, Anker SOLIX donated backup power equipment to two rural Texas agencies: Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Stations to Johnson County Emergency Management & Fire Marshal's Office and Anker SOLIX C300 DC Portable Power Stations to Hill County Emergency Management & Communications, part of the Hill County Sheriff's Office.
The goal was straightforward: support local emergency management teams that regularly operate far from reliable electrical infrastructure. The equipment was soon put to work.
Portable backup power for a command post in a pasture
On September 8, Hill County personnel established a command post between law enforcement and fire crews responding to the Covington Fire. The post was set up in the middle of a pasture, where conventional power was not readily available.
The donated C300 DC units were assigned across Fire Department command vehicles, the County Emergency Management Coordinator's vehicle and Sheriff's Office investigator vehicles. This gave separate teams access to portable backup power rather than requiring everyone to return to one vehicle to recharge equipment.
According to Lieutenant Chris Jackson of Hill County Emergency Management & Communications, Fire and Emergency Management personnel have used the units to charge laptops, radios, phones and drone batteries, and to power additional monitors and other digital equipment. Law enforcement personnel have used them with laptops, portable printers, phones and radios.
Before the donation, fire personnel mainly depended on cigarette-lighter inverters and factory outlets inside their vehicles. That often forced them to remain in the cab while equipment charged, even when their operational work was happening outside. The Emergency Management Coordinator's vehicle had some rear charging capacity, but only a limited number of outlets.
The C300 DC units made that power portable. Each unit has a 288Wh battery, up to 300W of output and multiple USB and vehicle-charging ports in a package weighing approximately 5.5 lbs. That allows responders to keep equipment operating where the work is taking place instead of bringing the work back to a power source.
"One of our investigators charged four drone batteries off of the Anker with a 100% charge, and after those four batteries it still had 40% left," Jackson said. "So far, great. No complaints."
For an emergency management team, that capacity can support more flight time for aerial assessment, longer operation for communications equipment and fewer interruptions during field coordination.
Keeping Starlink online during the Ross Fire
The F3800 donated to Johnson County Emergency Management & Fire Marshal's Office was also deployed during an active wildfire response.
On August 27, the agency took the portable power station to the Ross Fire, which had burned more than 83,000 acres. The F3800 was used to power Starlink and other equipment supporting operations at the scene.
Reliable internet access can be critical during disaster relief and emergency management operations, particularly in rural areas where conventional communications infrastructure may be unavailable or disrupted. Satellite connectivity can help responders exchange information and coordinate resources, but the terminal and connected equipment still require a dependable source of power.
The Anker SOLIX F3800 provides 3.84kWh of battery capacity and up to 6,000W of output at 120V and 240V. Its wheels and retractable handle allow one person to move substantial backup power between vehicles, command posts and other field locations.
Emergency preparedness beyond the campaign
These were not controlled product demonstrations. They were real working situations in which emergency personnel needed dependable backup power away from the grid.
The donations grew out of the Anker SOLIX National Preparedness Month campaign, which used the SOLIX Backup Type Indicator to encourage people to think about blackout preparedness in a more approachable way. The campaign was lighthearted, but the need behind it was not.
For rural emergency agencies, backup power supports communications, situational awareness and the ability to keep essential technology operating during disaster response. Sometimes that means powering a satellite connection at a large wildfire. Other times, it means charging a radio, printing a document or keeping a drone in the air from a command post in a pasture.
The donation also reflects a broader principle behind Anker SOLIX emergency preparedness efforts: the value of backup power is measured by what it allows people to keep doing. In the field, that can mean giving fire, law enforcement and emergency management teams more freedom to work outside their vehicles while keeping essential equipment available.
The same principle extends to the Anker SOLIX E10 Whole-Home Backup System. While portable power stations support equipment wherever emergency work takes place, the E10 is designed to help households maintain essential circuits and everyday routines during longer outages. Together, these solutions reflect an Anker SOLIX approach to backup power that ranges from portable field operations to whole-home emergency preparedness.
Anker SOLIX is grateful to Hill County Emergency Management & Communications and Johnson County Emergency Management & Fire Marshal's Office for sharing how the donated equipment has supported their work.
Their experience is a reminder that emergency preparedness is not only about having power stored somewhere. It is about having the right power available where people need it most.
Photos courtesy of Hill County Emergency Management & Communications and Johnson County Emergency Management & Fire Marshal's Office.
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