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Fort Bend County sets date to open new emergency operations center

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Hunter Marrow

1 min read

Published June 2, 2022 at 9:48 a.m. CT

Fort Bend County sets date to open new emergency operations center — Fort Bend County's former emergency operations center is pictured here. After delays, the new Fort Bend County Emergency Operations Center now has a scheduled opening date. (Courtesy Fort Bend County)

The new Fort Bend County Emergency Operations Center is set to open soon.

The county will host a grand opening celebration June 3 for the two-story, 24,245-square-foot emergency operations center at 307 Fort St., Richmond, with speakers including Fort Bend County Judge KP George, county commissioners and Office of Emergency Management Director Mark Flathouse.

The June 3 opening of the new $9.3 million building, designed to consolidate offices and communications spaces to best accommodate the county’s response to weather, fire and other emergencies, will come after the county delayed the original late March completion date due to delays in supplies.

According to George in a Feb. 28 news conference, the new emergency operations center also comes as the old facility, a more than 70-year-old jail used by the county during emergency events, proved unusable in past disasters, including Hurricane Harvey, when the county was forced to utilize a portable command center.

The new center will feature information technology and audio-visual technology and hardware to monitor and assist Fort Bend County residents during times of emergency, large training and media rooms, and administrative space for the OEM. An adjacent facility features a detached apparatus bay for emergency vehicles.