In the case of a catastrophic event in Emporia or the surrounding area, officials now have a central command post to handle the county’s response.
The recently completed Emergency Operations Center is in the basement of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
Rick Frevert and Glenda Sunter of Lyon County Emergency Management talked about the center Tuesday afternoon. Frevert said the center is set up to support 15 essential emergency support functions. Several agencies have workstations in the former meeting room. The center is designed to brings together officials in a closed environment with easy access to each other, Frevert said. Officials who will have workstations in the center will include the chiefs of law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services, city and county public works, the Lyon County Health Department and city and county finance and public information officers. Other officials would be accommodated as needed.
About $23,000 was spent to outfit the room, which includes telephones, a projector, television, fax ports, a smart board projector and other office equipment. More equipment will be added as time goes on, Frevert said.
Frevert and Sunter said communications for the room are set up to mirror the offices of the officials who would use it. If the sheriff was in the emergency center instead of his office, his extension would ring in the center.
Frevert said Lyon County Emergency Management is in charge of the center and the individual department heads are in charge of their response areas. The center could also could be used by officials of other counties or communities if needed, Frevert added.
Sunter said the center is pretty much self-sufficient. The building has a kitchen, shower areas and supplies to last at least 72 hours, she said. However, Frevert said, because of the location of the building, there is a possibility the Sheriff’s Office will not be a good place to gather officials in the event of a community emergency. In such a case, an alternate location would be chosen.
The next step for the center is to have the officials who will use the room bring their computers and make sure they are configured to be used at the center, Frevert said. The rest of the room is ready to go — Frevert and Sunter painted it themselves and county maintenance also did some of the work.
“We have the room equipped,” Frevert said. “We just have a few technical things to work out.”
The room has five levels of operation: Closed; open (when it is known that the EOC may be needed); running (planning and coordination, demands on local resources); activated (fully operating); and recovery, (center remains open for after-action reports).
Frevert said he hopes the room doesn’t have to be used anytime soon, but in the event of a catastrophe, it is there.
“Emergency management prepares for what we hope never happens,” Frevert said, quoting a motto on the wall of his office. “And provides structure and coordination when it does.”
emporian (anonymous) says...
Spend all this money, and they currently cant effectively dispatch county fire departments or first responders. Talk about putting the wagon before the horse.
November 7, 2007 at 2:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )