(FORT BEND, TX)
- Fort Bend County Judge KP George and the Office of Fort Bend County
Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (HS&EM) today
officially opened the new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in
Richmond, TX.
The two-story, $9.8 million, 38,000 square foot building is equipped with state-of-the-art disaster management
and public safety technology. The Office of HS&EM staff will be housed in the new building.
The
EOC sits on the site of what was previously a 70-year-old jail
facility. Following the devastation of Hurricane
Harvey, county officials assessed the old EOC facility, which was
heavily damaged during the Hurricane and was inoperable during Winter
Storm Uri. The Emergency Operations Center was temporarily housed in the
county’s Information Technology Building.
“This
building is what can happen when you combine intention and action,”
stated Fort Bend County Judge KP
George. “It can be a thought, but you have to make it happen and that
is what I came into office pushing for. Our County Commissioners
approved the measure and here we are today.”
Fort Bend County fully funded this project with the intention of it being a regional milestone to use during
any time of emergency or disaster.
Built
to withstand hurricane winds, the center is designed to operate
independently during an emergency if
county utilities become unavailable. With redundant internet circuits
via multiple carriers that run over a pair of large redundant switches
in high availability mode, the system is intended to have optimal uptime
to ensure the site stays operational at all
times.
Additionally,
the new EOC network connects to the county network with over a 20GB
connection that will allow
the EOC to move data easily and rapidly. A new online dashboard will
provide Fort Bend County residents with live information to track road
closures, local and national weather, FBC shelters, evacuation
information, water levels, and other information captured
by the FBC Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Following
remarks from Fort Bend County Information Technology Director Robyn
Doughtie, Paul Bonnette with
PGAL International Design Firm, Sabir Fakhruddin with FS Group
Architects & Developers, and Brad Craine with the Craine Group,
HS&EM Manager Mark Flathouse led attendees to the front of the
building for the raising of the flags. The flags flew over the former
EOC building and were raised in recognition of retiring Emergency
Management Coordinator Alan Spears. A tour of the facility immediately
followed with food and beverages sponsored by Louisiana Famous Fried
Chicken and HEB.
