Sima Merick, the Executive Director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, paid a visit, to Paulding County’s Emergency Management Director, Edward Bohn and the new Emergency Operation Center (EOC) on Monday the 22nd. Director Merick was scheduled to be in Paulding County in February, but following the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, had to reschedule for a later on the calendar.
The director came to evaluate Paulding County’s new EOC. The Emergency Operation Center is used by 1st Responders and County Leaders during a time of crisis. Whether, it is a Natural Disaster of wide spread portion; Tornadoes, Strong Severe Thunderstorms, Straight Line Winds, Flooding, etc. Or it could be Man-Made Disaster; Train Derailment, Large Scale Hazardous Material Incident, major Mass Casualty Event, etc.
Surrounding EMA Directors attend the gathering to see for themselves, what the new EOC looked like and what features they could possibly use in their own county EOC. Sean Miller, Director of Ohio EMA’s Regional Operations Branch was in attendance as well. Mr. Miller was Delaware County’s EMA Director prior to his appointment at the state level earlier this year. He brings a county director perspective to the office.
There was a lot of great discussion of the format of running an EOC. Prior to the Pandemic, EOCs were manned by key county leaders and would brainstorm to solve problems and issues that existed where the damage and destruction took place and assist those on scene. During the pandemic, with not being able to gather in places, innovations of virtual meetings, transmitting live feeds to a centrally located place and distributed to multiple locations, has allowed for more efficient operations to take place.
That technology has been implemented on a smaller scale in Paulding County’s Emergency Operation Center and if all goes well, this late Fall, the state’s State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) evaluators will be testing the county’s capabilities. The facility is located at the McDonald Pike’ Office Complex, 451 McDonald Pike.
