City of Greenville leaders were in good company as they cut the ribbon and officially opened the city's new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Thursday, October 17, 2013.

Greenville’s new EOC is specifically designed to be the focal point for coordination of the City’s emergency planning, response, and recovery efforts in the event of a disaster or emergency. Besides housing the City’s EOC, this facility is built to handle communications, from the City’s phone lines to a communications console for continued police and fire dispatch if the City’s main communications abilities are compromised.

“This is such a boost for carrying out our emergency management efforts,” said Interim Fire-Rescue Chief Eric Griffin. “Until now, we’ve converted training rooms or conference rooms into an EOC during times of major events. Now, we can have a dedicated facility for that with the equipment and infrastructure ready to go.”

Located at Fire Station #6, this 4,000 square foot facility is designed to withstand 150 MPH winds and will protect and support operations during severe weather, like hurricanes or tornadoes, as well as man-made disasters. Built of fully reinforced and grouted concrete block walls and pre-cast concrete plank roof structure with a bituminous roof membrane, this building is designed to resist failure against wind-borne debris. The building was also built to exceed minimum energy conservation requirements of the City’s E-300 energy efficiency program.

This project was funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As a result, the facility was required to comply with standards for design of critical facilities in high winds and risk management practices to mitigate potential terrorist attacks against buildings. The federal funding also required that all products in the facility comply with Buy American provisions.

When not in use as an EOC, this facility will be used for fire and rescue training purposes in partnership with the Public Safety Department of Economic Community Development at Pitt Community College (PCC). PCC will be providing technology to make this a reality and enhance their programs offered for those who need to train and update their knowledge and skills in the fire and rescue professions.

Greenville residents should know that when disasters strike, the City remains ready to quickly respond and assist in recovery efforts.

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