The new Huntsville-Madison County 911 Center is taking shape, and it won’t be long before it’s open and operating. The new 30,000 sq. ft. building is twice as big as the current center, which Ernie Blair, CEO of Huntsville-Madison County 911, says they’ve outgrown. The $16 million facility is located on Oakwood Road. Construction started on it just over two years ago.
“We’re leaders in a lot of ways here,” said Blair of the center, which is currently the largest crisis communications center in Alabama, where eight agencies work together under one roof.
“If you have a big emergency and multiple agencies involved, it’s kind of like having the symphony conductor is conducting the symphony in one room, with all of the players in one room,” explained Blair.
That translates to more efficiency and better responses to emergencies. It’s also more cost-effective. There’s also room to add additional agencies.
“Moving everything from the old building to the new building gives us the chance to upgrade all our technologies,” said Blair. “We’re going to replace a lot of aging equipment with new equipment.”
The new facility will have an operations center that’s twice the size of the current one, as well as more offices and conference rooms.
Because of so much construction going on in Madison County, Blair says that’s meant a slight delay in progress on this facility — because of the demand for construction workers.
“We’re about three or four months behind schedule, but we are certainly under budget, and we are proud of that,” he said.
Blair says they’re aiming to be able to occupy the building in March. He says it should be fully operating around May.
Latest headlines: