Conroe Courier - News
Mega-Mobilization Move: County purchases $880,000 unit for crisis situations
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| Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel, director of the Office of Emergency Management, stands by the county’s new $880,000 Mobile Incident Command Post. He played a key role in the nearly two-year process of purchasing the new mobile command unit from MBF Industries in Florida, which was paid for through a Department of Homeland Security grant. |
By Elliott Cochran
Montgomery County put itself in position to address major disasters and emergency situations with the purchase of a nearly million-dollar Mobile Incident Command Post.
The 54-foot-long vehicle, funded by an $880,000 Department of Homeland Security grant, sits on a freightliner chassis and offers law enforcement officials enough technological capabilities to serve as a base of operations in major emergencies and disasters.
The unit, which was brought to the county in December, boasts a cabin that can accommodate 25 passengers, including a dispatch station at the front, a work station in the middle and a full-scale conference room in the rear of the vessel.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel, director of the Office of Emergency Management, said the mobilization unit is versatile and will be used in natural disasters, such as hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, train derailments, bombings and at major crime scenes.
“This is for long-term, critical incidents where we can deploy the vehicle with a crew as a command post to mitigate the incident,” he said. “We can run a complete operation from this vehicle for an extended amount of time; it’s everything we wanted and needed in a vehicle.”
The unit is ready for action, but it will be used only when necessary.
Currently, only two people are trained to operated it, including Sheriff’s Lt. Randy Eaves, who picked up the unit Dec. 12 in Florida. A team of eight will initially be trained to use it.
Montgomery County owns the operations center, but it will be housed and maintained the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for use in all facets of emergency situations, including by Emergency Medical Services and various law enforcement agencies.
McDaniel said it would not be uncommon, in the case of an emergency, for the vehicle to be occupied by officials from various departments working together inside the unit to neutralize incidents.
The mobilization unit was more than a year in the making, with three months of planning and designing the unit and nine months of constructing it at MBF Industries, based in Sanford, Fla.
The county chose MBF because of its reputation for building top-notch mobilization units.
McDaniel said Eaves was instrumental in the design of the unit and traveled to the MBF Industries facility multiple times during the construction of the project, which required customizations.
McDaniel said products constructed by MBF Industries come with two or three slides to enlarge the interior of the vehicle, but officials requested that four slides be available to enlarge the cabin.
He said it is decked out in the latest technology, incorporating an arsenal of computers, radio equipment, video surveillance as well as a sophisticated satellite system capable of sending real-time voice and video streams as well as complex data.
McDaniel said officials will share it with other counties across the state if a situation demands the vehicle’s presence.
Although the unit is technologically savvy and able to bring agencies under one roof to neutralize major incidents, the vehicle is merely another tool for county officials to make the county safe. It was needed because the old command post was too small and did not provide all of the functions necessary for the county.
“This is one more piece of equipment for agencies to use to resolve an incident and enhance our ability to respond,” McDaniel said. “It’s by no means an end-all tool, but it’s the best vehicle money can buy.
“When the need arises, we’ll have the best equipment to act as quickly as possible.”
The 54-foot-long vehicle, funded by an $880,000 Department of Homeland Security grant, sits on a freightliner chassis and offers law enforcement officials enough technological capabilities to serve as a base of operations in major emergencies and disasters.
The unit, which was brought to the county in December, boasts a cabin that can accommodate 25 passengers, including a dispatch station at the front, a work station in the middle and a full-scale conference room in the rear of the vessel.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel, director of the Office of Emergency Management, said the mobilization unit is versatile and will be used in natural disasters, such as hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, train derailments, bombings and at major crime scenes.
“This is for long-term, critical incidents where we can deploy the vehicle with a crew as a command post to mitigate the incident,” he said. “We can run a complete operation from this vehicle for an extended amount of time; it’s everything we wanted and needed in a vehicle.”
The unit is ready for action, but it will be used only when necessary.
Currently, only two people are trained to operated it, including Sheriff’s Lt. Randy Eaves, who picked up the unit Dec. 12 in Florida. A team of eight will initially be trained to use it.
Montgomery County owns the operations center, but it will be housed and maintained the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for use in all facets of emergency situations, including by Emergency Medical Services and various law enforcement agencies.
McDaniel said it would not be uncommon, in the case of an emergency, for the vehicle to be occupied by officials from various departments working together inside the unit to neutralize incidents.
The mobilization unit was more than a year in the making, with three months of planning and designing the unit and nine months of constructing it at MBF Industries, based in Sanford, Fla.
The county chose MBF because of its reputation for building top-notch mobilization units.
McDaniel said Eaves was instrumental in the design of the unit and traveled to the MBF Industries facility multiple times during the construction of the project, which required customizations.
McDaniel said products constructed by MBF Industries come with two or three slides to enlarge the interior of the vehicle, but officials requested that four slides be available to enlarge the cabin.
He said it is decked out in the latest technology, incorporating an arsenal of computers, radio equipment, video surveillance as well as a sophisticated satellite system capable of sending real-time voice and video streams as well as complex data.
McDaniel said officials will share it with other counties across the state if a situation demands the vehicle’s presence.
Although the unit is technologically savvy and able to bring agencies under one roof to neutralize major incidents, the vehicle is merely another tool for county officials to make the county safe. It was needed because the old command post was too small and did not provide all of the functions necessary for the county.
“This is one more piece of equipment for agencies to use to resolve an incident and enhance our ability to respond,” McDaniel said. “It’s by no means an end-all tool, but it’s the best vehicle money can buy.
“When the need arises, we’ll have the best equipment to act as quickly as possible.”
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