In an emergency, Sandwich has an asset other Cape towns don’t: the high ground.

At 292 feet, Telegraph Hill off Route 130 is second only to Joint Base Cape Cod’s Pine Hill, a 306-foot behemoth.

Along the rocky spine that includes Sandwich’s high point is another asset: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. In times of trouble, that matters.

From that high-and-dry perch, radio signals carrying vital news and information can reach west to New Bedford, north to Plymouth and over the water to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

Fire Chief JJ Burke is not a man to let that asset go to waste. And he has like-minded partners at Spaulding and in volunteer ham radio operators.

The hospital has a generator capable of running nonstop for four days and solar panels to augment that grid. Spaulding is pr

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