DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Volusia’s Emergency Operations Center is where the 911 dispatch center is and where the county’s emergency crews turn when there’s a major storm or disaster for planning and shelter.
Now, it’s set to get a big expansion to help with the county’s response.
“This really becomes the nerve center for all of those potential response operations, those recovery operations, high-level decisions from county leadership are being made,” said Volusia County Emergency Management Director, Clint Mecham.
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Mecham said that’s especially true during hurricanes.
“Recently, with Hurricane Helene as it went by, even though it didn’t really affect Volusia County as much, the staff and senior leadership from Volusia County were here. We spent the night here,” he said, “When we get into the activation mode, we have to pull staff in here for extended periods of time — 24, 48 hours. We need additional space so people can bunk down.”
Mecham said the building is too small right now to handle operations for major storms like those recently seen in Central Florida.
On Tuesday, the Volusia County Council approved the expansion.
“It’s going to be on the west side of the structure. It’ll look like a big block,” Mecham said. “Multi-purpose rooms, media briefings, additional classroom space, but it can also be converted into a bunk room for those times we do need to bunker here.”
The expansion will be about $5 million and the state gave the county a little over $2 million in a grant. It is also the state’s primary backup site to use for emergency operations if Tallahassee has an emergency.
“The building is rated for 180 miles per hour sustained winds and that includes the windows for example,” Mecham said.
The county hopes to have the expansion fully up and running by the 2026 hurricane season.
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