The Bucks County Commissioners recently joined with county Emergency Services officials to announce the completion of renovations to the county’s Emergency Operations Center in Ivyland.
With its new improvements, the EOC now boasts expanded meeting and workspaces outfitted with updated technology that enhances in-person, hybrid and virtual meeting and collaboration capabilities.
“Every emergency that comes into this county starts and ends in this space,” said Bucks County Emergency Services director Audrey Kenny. “We are thrilled to have this new Emergency Operations Center. We know it’s going to be a wonderful addition to our complement of services that we offer here, and it will serve the first responders, the police departments, the EMS agencies, the fire departments and our emergency management professionals for years to come.”
When activated, the EOC serves as the county’s emergency response nerve center during response and recovery from disasters and other large-scale, resource-intensive operations that require the mobilization and coordination of multiple emergency services, government and nonprofit agencies.
Work on the project began last summer and continued for just over a year. Costs of construction, technology and security upgrades totaled about $2 million. The project was paid for with federal COVID relief and Homeland Security funds.
The county contracted with the following firms on this project: Holstein White, Inc. (engineer); Matthew V. Piotrowski Architect, LLC (architect); Magnum, Inc. (general contractor); Palman Electric, Inc. (electrical contractor); Hirschberg Mechanical (mechanical and plumbing contractor); and Guy M. Cooper, Inc. (fire protection contractor).
