WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — Wakulla County's new 8,400-square-foot emergency operations center will replace a roughly 20-person conference room in the sheriff's office, giving dozens of agencies room to coordinate disaster response.
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Wakulla County's new emergency operations center is nearly operational, and it is set to transform how the county responds to disasters. The 8,400-square-foot facility will replace an approximately 20-person conference room in the sheriff's office.
The new building includes a command center that can hold more than 60 people, spaces to house personnel during a disaster, and a 911 operations center.
Jennifer Nagy, the emergency operations director for Wakulla County, said the county had outgrown its old center.
"We had outgrown the current Emergency Operations Center a long time ago," Nagy said. "So, we're super excited to be able to have this asset to the community."
The expanded space allows multiple coordinating agencies to work together under one roof during a disaster. Those agencies include the Red Cross, the sheriff's office, firefighters, and power companies such as Talquin and Duke Energy.
"We bring together people from all over and other partners that all have a part in response and recovery for our county," said Nagy. "For most people, that's Red Cross, that's your Sheriff's Office, your firefighters, your power companies such as Talquin and Duke here in our county. Anybody that might be utilized in a response."
Nagy said the facility will be used for any type of disaster, not just hurricanes.
"Most people think of emergency operations as hurricanes, but we are all disasters," said Nagy. "So, anything that might impact the county, whether that's a hurricane, a wildfire, a natural disaster, a technological disaster, things like that that we might activate in response to, those coordination pieces will happen here in the Emergency Operations Center."
Ana Gibbs, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, said disaster coordination with local partners is a year-long process. Having a representative on-site locally helps the company support neighbors and emergency teams during recovery efforts.
"So when somebody has a question, and as you know, in the EOC, there are representatives from all different types of departments," said Gibbs. "We are able to provide up to date information on what we consider our estimated time of restoration. And again, that we're able to address critical facilities and get those facilities back in service as quickly and safely as possible.”
When the facility is not responding to a disaster, it will house the 911 dispatch center and serve as a training space. Agencies are expected to begin using the building within a few weeks.
The public can tour the new facility and learn more about hurricane preparedness at an open house and preparedness expo this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.
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