When
disaster strikes Volusia County, the Volusia County Emergency
Operations Center (CEOC) is a vital resource ready to assess damage,
coordinate services
and communicate with citizens.
“When we
face a disaster, it is essential to know what we are dealing with in
terms of threats to life, public safety, property and more,” said
Charles Craig, director of
Emergency Management for Volusia County Government. “A rapid
assessment amid the chaos of a crisis helps direct our efforts to
mount the appropriate response.”
Many
remember the wildfires of 1998 that ravaged Volusia County and
attracted global news media attention. “That event lasted three
weeks and was unlike anything we
had ever experienced,” said Dave Byron, Volusia County’s Community
Services/ Community Information director, who was the voice of
county government throughout the disaster. “People everywhere were
consumed with the event, which meant an incredible demand for
information from the news media from across the nation and around
the world.”
Byron
said at the peak of the fire event, there were as many as 1,000
reporters in Volusia County and 5,000 firefighters battling the
blazes that eventually consumed 140,000 acres of woodland.
In
addition to county and municipal emergency personnel, firefighters
and volunteers from throughout Florida and other states came to
fight the raging wildfires. This required complex coordination to
ensure manpower and resources were deployed to
volatile hotspots and then moved as conditions warranted. The
Emergency Operations Center was the heartbeat of Volusia County as
residents and visitors evacuated and emergency personnel dealt with
the disaster.
The CEOC
is an 8,000-square-foot, bunker-style facility west of Daytona Beach
off U.S. 92. It was built in 1976 with a federal grant and is
capable of operating during almost any type of disaster.
Key
disaster response officials, including the Volusia County Chair, the
Volusia County manager, department heads, school district staff and
the emergency management director, convene in this
specially-designed facility to make the strategic decisions
necessary to protect the public during emergencies, such as
hurricanes, civil unrest, flooding, tornadoes, wildfires and mass
casualty incidents.
Dozens
of other individuals are assigned to the facility to ensure that all
key decision makers are together and that response decisions are
coordinated. Specifically, this includes representatives of all
disaster response Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and
representatives of Volusia County’s 16 cities. In fact, the
operations room can accommodate 59 people and is equipped with
extensive telephone, data and radio systems, which allow emergency
response personnel to coordinate disaster operations. An
audio-visual system, integrated with the CEOC’s computer network,
has the capability to keep the emergency staff current on developing
situations during emergencies, while also providing an excellent
training facility with many different applications.
Keeping
the public informed during a disaster is a major responsibility of
Volusia County Emergency Management. A Citizens Information Center
staffed by trained county employees, and a media center provide
accurate and timely information to the public during emergency
operations. This includes contact with the business operations
center that provides a variety of resources and information for
local businesses in the wake of a disaster, a program of The Daytona
Beach/Halifax Area Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Business
Excellence.
Through
an agreement with Volusia County, WNDB 1150 AM/WHOG 95.7 FM radio
and
WDSC TV-15 and Univision TV-26 are Volusia County’s official
emergency management information stations. WNDB radio has a
broadcast outlet at the CEOC
and WDSC television enhances the county’s ability to provide
critical public safety information with a direct, live television
connection.
Univision TV-26 and MEGA 98.1 FM are the county’s official Hispanic
broadcast stations for emergency information. Additional
capabilities include the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which allows
emergency messages and warnings to be dispatched for immediate
rebroadcast to the public. Brighthouse cable crawler messaging and a
geographic emergency call down system for rapid resident
notifications are communications tools of the CEOC.
Other
enhancements include access via a video link to the Daytona Area
Smart Highways (DASH) system operated by the Florida Department of
Transportation. DASH allows television surveillance of the
interstates 4 and 95, major evacuation routes
through Volusia County.
To
ensure emergency response personnel can coordinate and direct
emergency response efforts throughout Volusia County, CEOC
communications resources are formidable. The CEOC is connected to an
internal local area network and to an external wide area network.
Communications include amateur radio and computer-assisted dispatch
for the Volusia County Sheriff ’s Office and Fire Services and
interface with the countywide 800-megahertz communications system.
The facility also is linked to Florida’s Emergency Operations
Center, other Florida counties and the
National Weather Service via two voice/data satellite communications
systems.
Weather
information alerts are received from the National Weather Service
via satellite receiver. A broad range of weather information is
accessible from the Meteorologix
and Baron’s weather systems.
Two
300-kilowatt diesel generators provide backup power to the CEOC and
the 911 center. The CEOC also houses the countywide 800-megahertz
radio computers, criminal justice computer system and a county
telephone switch. A kitchen and eating area make the CEOC
self-sufficient.
