ICYMI: Senator Reverend Warnock Surveys Existing Chatham County Emergency Operations Center After Securing Over $1 Million in Federal Funding for New Facility

Senator Reverend Warnock joined local leaders to survey existing Chatham County Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

Senator Reverend Warnock secured over $1 million in bipartisan federal funding to help construct a new EOC

The new EOC will help city, county and public safety officials coordinate severe weather and emergency response efforts

The current Chatham County EOC lacks proper space and infrastructure to support the dedicated public servants that make public safety possible

The county expects an estimated construction timeline ending in December 2026

Senator Reverend Warnock to The Current: "You can look at this building and this space and see that it's far from adequate to meet the kind of emergency events that come from time to time"

Senator Reverend Warnock to WTOC: "Imagine being here and in this narrow space with 80 people. The next shift is somewhere outside in the hallway because they don't have anywhere to go so even though they're not working, they're stuck in the workplace without a cot, without a dorm room, without anything? We can do a lot better than that"

Above: Senator Reverend Warnock surveys existing Chatham County Emergency Operations Center

Savannah, GA - On Monday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) visited the Chatham County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and met with local leaders to examine the blueprints for the new EOC under development near the Savannah airport. Senator Warnock secured $1.2 million in federal funding to help construct the new EOC. The funding was secured through the Fiscal Year 2023 government funding legislation and awarded through the FEMA Emergency Operations Center Grant Program.

The new EOC will help city, county and public safety officials coordinate severe weather and emergency response efforts. The future center will support coordinated and centralized response operations by bringing local law enforcement, local officials, and emergency personnel together to ensure residents get the support they need during an emergency. The county expects an estimated construction timeline ending in December 2026.

This type of center is meant to ensure that the capacity exists for local government and first responders to direct and control emergency response operations from a centralized facility in the event of an emergency. EOCs also provide communications and information systems that enable unified command, a process that allows different agencies and entities who do not usually work together to coordinate their response to an emergency.

The current Chatham County EOC lacks proper space and infrastructure to support the dedicated public servants that make public safety possible. The space has no dedicated dorms or beds, no dedicated conference rooms, and cannot hold the entire staff that is scheduled to report during an activation. The existing center is also in an area that will flood in hurricanes that are over a Category 2 strength.

Currently, during a storm, the core Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) staff sleep on cots in the cubicles of the vehicle registration office and the rest of the staff must travel to another building to sleep. This is not optimum during storms. Since there are no conference rooms in the EOC, CEMA staff take over police station conference rooms and offices, leaving police staff without their office space. The new location will correct these deficiencies and will be located at the highest elevation in Chatham County at the airport.

See more coverage of Senators Reverend Warnock's visit:

The Current: 'Far from adequate'

July 25, 2024

• Savannah's hometown senator, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, swung through Chatham County's 911 and emergency operations center as part of his visit to the county this week.
  
• Chatham County is trying to scale up public safety services amid growth and investment in the area. One place it has struggled is emergency calls and storm response, largely due to old infrastructure. A new upgraded center has been in the works for over a decade.
  
• "You can look at this building and this space and see that it's far from adequate to meet the kind of emergency events that come from time to time," Warnock told The Current on Monday.
  
• The senator touted the $1.2 million in federal funding he secured for the new emergency operations facility last fiscal year, meant to house the county's disaster response, new 911 workstations and airport police.

WTOC: Georgia Senator Warnock tours new Emergency Operations Center and Gulfstream's Savannah Technical College aviation campus

July 22, 2024

• Monday, Georgia US Senator Raphael Warnock toured a key facility aimed at helping Chatham County respond to natural disasters. […] WTOC has new details on millions in federal funding for a new emergency operations center. We were the only station there as Senator Warnock toured the county's current EOC facility.
  
• Leaders there called the space inadequate describing it as small and outdated. You may remember county officials broke ground on a new 83-thousand square foot facility for a new Emergency Operations Center capable of withstanding a Category 5 hurricane back in May.

• Monday, Senator Warnock was on hand at the old facility touting $1.2 million in FEMA grant money. […] The Senator says the new center will help boost communications and improve emergency response.
  
• "'Imagine being here and in this narrow space with 80 people. The next shift is somewhere outside in the hallway because they don't have anywhere to go so even though they're not working, they're stuck in the workplace without a cot, without a dorm room, without anything? We can do a lot better than that,' said Senator Warnock."
  
• Warnock, is a Savannah native, says he's seen firsthand some of the challenges that come with storm response locally. The new facility is being built on Gulfstream Road near the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.

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