**LEAD STORY**
The new Alameda County, California, Emergency Operations Center went in service last week in Dublin, California. This new high-tech disaster clearinghouse will have to wait for an incident of some type to see how well it will work. The new center will be the command center for incidents from earthquakes and wildfires to floods and major hazardous materials situations. Emergency officials will oversee the incidents from this new $7.9 million, 25,000 square foot center.
The old Alameda County Office of Emergency Services was in San Leandro. The old office was in a bunker-type, windowless building that was located right over an earthquake fault line. The new EOC is located right next door to the Santa Rita Jail. The senior emergency services coordinator of the center said, "We're no longer 300 yards from a fault, but now we're next to 3,000 known felons. But at least they're behind bars."
At the opening ceremony that was held last week, officials from Alameda County dedicated the new building in honor of Oakland Fire Department Battalion Chief James Riley, Jr. and Oakland Police Officer John Grubensky. Both Riley and Grubensky died in 1991 while trying to save people from the East Bay Hills fire.
The new center is designed to withstand a magnitude 8.3 earthquake. It has two emergency power generators and a backup water supply. Inside the building, emergency workers will work at an array of computer stations, large data screens and map displays. Every emergency vehicle can be tracked by a computerized map that shows where they have been dispatched. The building has telephone, radio and satellite communications capabilities.
Each room in the center has been given a name and has a designated purpose. Some of the rooms include: the Incident Command Center, Tactical Dispatch, and the Situation Room.
The State of California has been making an effort to streamline disaster preparedness operations. In Alameda County even though there may not be an emergency situaton to be handled everday, the new EOC will not remain quiet. Everday there will be about 12 people in the center working on drafting contingency plans.
When an emergency strikes, about 150 people are expected to converge on the center and they will coordinate response and recovery efforts with local, state and federal agencies.
The new Alameda County Emergency Operations Center will also coordinate all law enforcement mutual aid requests for a 16-county area in northern California, from Monterey to the Oregon border.
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All Rights reserved.