The City of Castlegar is looking for a grant to help fund upgrades to its emergency operations centre (EOC) at the fire hall.
The city is asking the Union of BC Municipalities for $25,000 from its Community Emergency Preparedness Fund.
When the fire hall was constructed in 1998, an upstairs training room was designed to house the city’s primary EOC in the event of major emergencies and disasters. There have been no significant upgrades to the EOC since that time.
“With continual advancement of technologies, it is important that the city keep pace with new and efficient operations for the EOC,” says a report submitted by deputy fire Chief Nick Ahlefeld in support of the grant.
“Upgraded technology and infrastructure will allow the city to transition faster for setup time and activations. The updated EOC will assist the city in its readiness to coordinate response with neighbouring regional districts and municipalities, governmental agencies, utility companies and industries during any type of major disaster or emergency.”
Upgrades will include independent communication capabilities for the EOC in case the city servers go down, dedicated EOC laptops, software and routers.
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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