The City of North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina has announced that it is developing an emergency operations and data management center. The city’s council members initially planned to spend $2 million developing the data center. However, the budget has risen to $12 million. North Myrtle Beach is currently rezoning land located at Champions Boulevard for developing the facility. The city did not reveal the details of the facility.
The city’s Fire Chief, Garry Spain, discussed the importance of the data center in an interview. He said it is vital that all emergency support functions are housed in a single place where they can operate as a united unit. The current emergency operations and data management building is housed in the North Myrtle Beach City Hall. However, services have outgrown the facility, forcing the emergency crews to spread across the city.
The new facility will have the capacity to withstand category five hurricanes. Emergency crews will mainly use the data center to manage emergencies like tornadoes and hurricanes.
