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Harris County gets new hurricane-resistant 911 call center
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Emergency 911 call takers are set to move to a new 42,000-square-foot facility designed to withstand a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 155 mph.
Emergency 911 call takers are set to move to a new 42,000-square-foot facility designed to withstand a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 155 mph.
Photo: Courtesy
Emergency 911 call takers are set to move to a new 42,000-square-foot facility designed to withstand a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 155 mph.
Emergency 911 call takers are set to move to a new 42,000-square-foot facility designed to withstand a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 155 mph.
Photo: Courtesy
As Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on Houston in 2017, 911 operators were forced to evacuate the Harris County Sheriff’s Office near Buffalo Bayou after storm waters flooded the call center.
Call takers were then faced with directing emergency responses for six weeks out of the Greater Harris County 911 Network Building, Harris County Sheriff’s Office 911 coordinator Timothy Staten told Chron.com.
To ensure operations run smoothly during future natural disasters, call takers are set to move to a spacious new 42,000-square-foot facility designed to withstand a category 4 hurricane with winds up to 155 mph.
On Monday, the Houston Chronicle took a tour of the building, which is part of the 90-acre East Aldine District Town Center at 3000 Aldine Mail Route.
The facility features bulletproof windows and three backup generators, including two natural gas generators and one diesel generator that has enough fuel capacity to operate the building on full power for six days.
Staff sleeping quarters with cots and laundry facilities are also located on-site.
Situated on the main floor are 56 call-taker and 16 dispatcher consoles, all equipped with technology by Next Generation 911 and six screens which display both 911 information and information from in-house software, Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD).
Since call takers are sedentary during their work shifts, fully-electric desks are height adjustable for comfort.
Moreover, a row of bright LED lights, located at each desk above the computer screens, changes colors at the touch of a button. Blues signifies standard work mode, while red signals for a supervisor and green designates a high risk situation.
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years,” Harris County Sheriff Office director Katherine Yost told Chron.com. “We want to make sure our citizens get home safely equally as much as we want to get our deputies and first responders home. It’s more than just work for us. It’s a passion.”
Emergency 911 operators will begin fielding calls from the new call center Tuesday evening.
Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message