Emergency services purchase mobile command unit

(L-R) B.J. Josey, Brad Cox, Chris Medina, Dan Stone, Sheriff Buddy Glass, Ruth Merritt, Debbie Henry, Shane Rathel, Scott Worsley, Mary Price and Craig Tully

The emergency services of Colquitt/Miller County now have a mobile command center to utilize in the event of emergencies and/or natural disasters.

The mobile command center was made possible by a purchase of a new travel trailer that was left over from Hurricane Katrina.

The unit was purchased for $2000 from FEMA and converted to house an emergency command center with all of the communications equipment including a SMART Box, telephones, 911 radios, high speed internet and low band radio frequencies. It is a selfsufficient trailer and can run entirely on generator power if needed. This unit can be set up on location, and all commands in accordance with new Federal Incident Management can be performed.

This project is a joint City/ County project funded through Special local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and involves the Miller County EMA, Colquitt/ Miller Fire/Rescue Department, Miller Co. Sheriff's Office/911, Colquitt Police Department, and the Miller County EMS.

This emergency service unit is state-of-the-art and will be utilized by all emergency service organizations in Colquitt and Miller County. It is also available to surrounding neighbors if the need arises.

It is the hope of the various emergency services that this fully equipped, self-contained communication and command center is never needed. However, one of the department heads stated that we in Southwest Georgia and especially in Miller County know that the need can and has occurred like the floods of 1994 and 1998 as well as the recent tornadoes that devastated this county in recent years.

When all power was out, and the only communication for days and weeks was mobile radios and radios in vehicles, an emergency service vehicle was borrowed from another area to help with the rescue services.

The unit was recently on display at the Festival of Southern Culture on the Colquitt square.

The mobile command center is being kept inside the Colquitt/Miller County Fire and Rescue Station in Colquitt. It has been fully equipped and fully tested to make sure that it can operate on its own power if the need arises.