ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — Hurricane season begins June 1, and the state’s busiest Emergency Operations Center is getting ready inside a brand new state-of-the-art facility.
What You Need To Know
- Brevard County is going into Hurricane Season with a brand new Emergency Operations Center
- The new facility includes a 140-seat command center, a permanent 911 communication center, a cafeteria and the ability to withstand up to 200 mph winds
- Members of the public are invited to tour the new facility this Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2 from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
The new Brevard EOC replaces an old one built in the early 1960s, which had cramped spaces made even tighter when teams were under one roof working through hurricanes.
Now there’s plenty of room to work, eat and sleep while dealing with high-pressure situations.
At the heart of the new building is the command center, equipped with more than 140 seats to accommodate city, county and community partners all working together during emergencies. The facility is also designed to withstand up to 200 mph winds.
“We had 58 seats in our previous building, so that’s triple the growth," Brevard Emergency Management Director John Scott said. "We can bring in more partners, we can improve our coordination."
The old EOC was a bunker built in 1964 at the dawn of the space race.
Despite being modified over the years, age eventually caught up with the building.
Belinda Stewart, with crisis lifeline organization 211 Brevard, said she knows how cramped and uncomfortable it was working storms in the former EOC.
“I have slept on the floor while someone was working at that desk above me,” she said.
Her nonprofit fields, on average, some 10,000 calls for help or guidance during crises.
Now there are new cots where her team can get a comfortable sleep.
“To be in a facility where our folks can get rest when we need it, we all know we do better work when we are rested,” Stewart said.
Other features in the facility include a permanent 911 communications center for the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and Brevard County Fire Rescue, plus a new cafeteria, which the old building did not have.
“You can actually feed people, because if you can eat well, you can work well,” said Scott.
The Brevard EOC is the most activated in the state due to the high number of rocket launches each year.
Members of the public are invited to tour the new facility Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.