Santa Rosa Gets $1 Million In Federal Funding To Improve Emergency Services
SANTA ROSA (KPIX) -- Santa Rosa is getting some help from the federal government to help the city respond to emergencies. The help comes in the form of $1 million for the city to build what it has needed for years.
A building in Stony Point Road will be the new home of the Emergency Operations Center for the City of Santa Rosa. It's hard to believe for years the EOC has been operating in and out of a closet, where many of the supplies are stashed.
"We can no longer operate where we're literally setting up an EOC out of a box. We need to have a permanent home and this is a step in the right direction," says Santa Rosa Fire Marshall Paul Lowenthal.
Since 2017, Santa Rosa has activated its EOC 13 times and it's not just in the summers. During devastating fires such as the Tubbs, which killed more than 20 people and burned down roughly 3 thousand homes. To Public Safety Power Shutoffs and winter storms.
"This million dollar funding source will allow us to really improve the system, have an actual permanent home," says Lowenthal.
The funding is coming from President Joe Biden's spending bill which Congressman Mike Thompson helped to secure more than $10 million for his district, money that will go to save lives and homes. During disasters, EOCs quickly spring into action to alert the community and coordinate evacuations.
Lowenthal adds, "Really when you look at what responses to emergency operations centers oversee, seconds and minutes count and so having those systems in place, ready to go and where our staff can come and get to work will be critical here locally."
Work on building the emergency operations center is expected to start late this year with it hopefully being completed in about a year and a half.
