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Wisconsin Gets New Emergency Operations Center (EOC)

This would be a place to visit if you are planning a new EOC.

I've been involved with the design and construction of three EOCs. Two of those, one for the state of Washington and one for King County, were multi-million dollar facilities, $11 million and $30 million, respectively. 

If you are about to embark on the design process for a new EOC, I highly recommend going to visit newer EOCs that have been constructed in the last five years to get their lessons learned and see how they are incorporating technology into their facilities.

One place you might put on the list of places to visit (maybe not in January or February) would be the Wisconsin State EOC, which was just opened and built for $9.2 million. If you happen to be a state, and your emergency management function is aligned with the National Guard, then even more so since the linked story alludes to the facility also serving as the Joint Operations Center.

I've written about this before, but the city of Portland also has a new facility that is about 2-3 years old. And, reference technology, Seattle's EOC is getting a technology refresh and it is only about 6 years old.

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.