Marathon County, WI Emergency Management is putting the finishing touches on their new Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Located in the basement of the Wausau City Hall, the new EOC will be available in times of large scale events, disasters, severe weather, or any time the Incident Command System needs to establish an off site command center to provide support for the Incident Commander.

Marathon County Emergency Manager Steve Hagman, right, demonstrate to Dave Levorson, K9KNY, some of the features of the Maraton County EOC.

The EOC provides workstations and technology for the command staff of each of the ICS sections to sit and work together to provide support to the Incident Commander. At the head of the table, a manager can control the large displays on the wall to provide situational awareness for all the participants in the event. The rear of the EOC has tables to give knowledgeable experts space to set up and consult with the command staff. The EOC also has an adjacent conference room for briefings and meetings.

Amateur Radio and Marathon County ARES/RACES group has been a major consideration in the design and creation of the EOC. The amateur radio group will have access to the facility and space for equipment to provide auxiliary communications to incidents. Steve Hagman, Marathon County’s Emergency Manager also encouraged the group to utilize the EOC to run the SYWARN severe weather nets, giving emergency management access to the group if the weather event requires an extended response and recovery.

Hagman stressed that this new facility isn’t just for emergency, but can be utilized for any large scale community event where public safety groups need to provide support to the management of the event.