A NEW 9-1-1 CENTER WITH A TECHNOLOGY REFRESH By Ernie Blair The Huntsville-Madison County 9-1-1 System (HMC 9-1-1) occupied its new home in September 2020, not a moment too soon. Organizations including NASA, the Army Material Command (AMC), the FBI, Facebook, Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Mazda-Toyota, and AeroJet Rocketdyne propelled Huntsville to the largest populated city in Alabama with a metro population of almost 400,000 people, and another 100,000 who drive in to work each day. The Huntsville-Madison County 9-1-1 Center also experienced rapid growth, leaving Alabama’s largest 9-1-1 Center bursting at the seams.
THE CENTER The Center houses a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional concept, with seven additional Public Safety Agencies sharing space alongside the 9-1-1 calltakers. HMC 9-1-1 was one of the first such agencies to embrace this concept, with all local police, fire and EMS agencies housing their dispatchers alongside 9-1-1 calltakers. Operating as a “combined” communications facility, the players coordinating the responders to the scene of an emergency are all located in one large operations room, only a few feet from each other and sharing the best technology available. This combined facility layout allows them to send the best combination of public safety responders accurately and expeditiously to any emergency. Additional space is available for more public safety agencies from the local universities, Redstone Arsenal, and the HMC Airport Authority. In addition to meeting the requirement of more space, the Board recognized employee retention, employee training, and top-of-the-line equipment and technology
Height adjustable ergonomic operating consoles include built-in heating and cooling. FALL 2021 PROCEEDINGS 23
The new Huntsville-Madison County 9-1-1 Building was designed for function and employee comfort.
as critical requirements for success. The 200+ employees from all agencies provided input into the center’s design and construction, resulting in many personal comfort improvements. The 30,000 square foot FEMA-rated facility doubles the size of the old building with additional conference rooms, including advanced multimedia and click-to-share access, expanded employee break areas, a massive operations room, and an oversized server room.
AMENITIES Social distancing was built into the construction of the operations room, the heart of the Center’s activity. Hospital operating room air quality and air flow is provided throughout the building by ultraviolet and air scrubbing technology. Sunlight in the operations room
The Spacious Operations Center is FEMA rated for tornado protection.
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