Washington Co. Emergency Management Unveils New Mobile Command Center

Washington County Emergency Management has a new mobile command center loaded with equipment and technology to use during catastrophic events and other major emergencies.

The Washington County Emergency Management Director says if they had bought it turn-key, it would’ve cost as much as $250,000, but because they created it themselves, they saved close to $185,000.

Three volunteers dedicated two months to make this multifunctional trailer.

"A lot of sweat labor," said Jerry Kelley, Technical Specialist.

Jerry Kelley said now it's ready to respond to emergencies throughout Washington County.

"Active shooter, lost person search. If we were to have a weather event, tornado, flood, that impacted only a portion of the county and we need to set operations closer to the scene, we could take this trailer down set it up and have remote operations right on scene," said Kary Cox, Washington Co. Director of Emergency Management.

Director Kary Cox said they spent a couple of years designing the mobile emergency operations center before getting grants and donations.

Cox says Phillips 66 provided most of the funding to buy the empty 20-foot by 8-foot-wide trailer.

Then a lot of wiring went into it, and they had to take the inside apart.

"Not all the way to the bones, but almost," said Kelley.

They've now tripled their radio range capabilities.

"There's three positions, operating positions in the trailer," said Cox.

It's got radio communications on all public safety bands, three VHF radios, two 800 Mhz radios, one UHF radio, one dual-band amateur radio, three tactical repeater systems (2 VHF and 1, 800 Mhz), a 20 ft antenna tower, broadband WiFi with dual system providers, remote VPN, VoIP phones, a printer with copy and scanning capabilities, a cache of six 800 Mhz portable radios, a cache of 12 VHF portable radios, a 48 inch LED TV monitor, remote wireless 36 inch LED monitor, duel climate control units, a coffee maker and a microwave.

"This console controls four separate radios simultaneously," said Cox.

There's a meeting area that can also serve as a space to nap.

"Benches on each side with a table that goes in the center," said Cox. "Take the table out and extend these benches down it actually creates two twin-sized beds."

They plan to add a tower-mounted remote PTZ camera and self-contained generator system, too.

Cox said the previous trailers were smaller but served them well in the past.

"We've been to Victoria, Texas for Hurricane Harvey where we managed a 7-county regional staging area out of our previous trailer for ten days. I-40 Bridge collapse we provided the communications for that response and recovery effort. Hurricane Katrina, the shelter operation and Camp Gruber. For a little over two months, we were down there," said Cox.

Imagine what this new one can do.

"It gives a sense of self-worth to be able to know that something that you did can help people and communities that might be misfortunate. It's the reason you're going to those places," said Kelley.