At Wednesday’s Savannah Airport Commission meeting, airport executive director Greg Kelly said the county, city and airport have agreed to partner to build that new center on airport land.
“We had been approached individually by both the county and the city about the possibility of putting a stand-alone emergency ops center out here.” Kelly said. “We knew we didn’t need two such facilities, so we worked with the Chatham Emergency Management Agency, the county and city to plan one common-use facility.”
A stand-alone emergency center was also part of the airport’s five-year plan, Kelly said, adding that the airport’s emergency ops center is currently housed in the terminal building.
“Ideally, it should be remote,” he said.
CEMA director Dennis Jones agreed, noting that his organization’s location in the old County Courthouse downtown on Bull Street was also less than optimal.
“Right now, we are operating from the basement of a building that is more than 100 years old,” he said. “We definitely need a new facility.”
The airport identified a parcel several years ago that it intended to use for its own center, Kelly said.
“The plan now is to build a new center on that parcel that would be large enough to accommodate the county, the city and airport emergency personnel as well,” he said.
‘A no-brainer’
Assistant county manager Michael Kaigler called the proposal “a no-brainer, something that would benefit the entire community.”
“Pooling our resources makes sense,” he said. “If something were to happen out here at the airport, they would have CEMA, Savannah Fire and police all in one facility close by to provide immediate help.
“Likewise, if there was a major weather disaster in the community — a hurricane or major tornado — support services would most likely be staged at the airport.
“It just makes sense all around.”
Kaigler said the county, which is taking lead on the project, now plans to go back to the drawing board armed not only with CEMA’s needs, but the city’s and airport’s as well.
“What we expect to have is a facility designed to give everyone the space they need with an economy of scale that will save money as well as enhance efficiency.”
Airport commission chairman Steve Green agreed, calling the project “a perfect example of collaboration for the benefit of the entire region” and thanking all involved for their efforts.
A survivable facility
As head of the county’s emergency management agency, Jones sees his job as identifying the challenges and gaps in service and working to resolve them.
One of his biggest challenges has been finding a way out of his basement headquarters.
“We started actually about 10 or 12 years ago, coordinating with the airport and other partners to try and find a place where we could build a survivable and fully functional facility,” he said.
What does that mean?
“We want to build a facility that we can stay in during a Category 5 hurricane,” Jones said. “As it stands right now, we have only one such building in all of Chatham County that meets that criteria.”
With a major storm, not only does the community at large have to evacuate, but all public and emergency services have to get out of Chatham County as well, he said.
“We want our new center to have the latest infrastructure and technology in addition to the ability to withstand a significant tornado or major hurricane.
“Partnering with the airport, partnering with the city of Savannah allows us to have those resources in place to immediately start addressing and coordinating recovery efforts following a disaster,” Jones said.
“While this would have obvious benefits for the airport, the county and the city, it will also benefit each and every citizen in the community.
“The faster we can coordinate the response and recovery efforts, the faster we will get our citizens back in their homes.”
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