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Sept. 30, 2003
Dedication ceremony marks completion of King County's new Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center
Public safety and security for King County residents improved even more today as King County Executive Ron Sims, Sheriff Dave Reichert, Councilmember Larry Gossett, chair of the Law, Safety and Justice Committee today dedicated the new Kent Pullen Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center (RCECC) in Renton.
"With this new building King County residents should feel a new level of security in knowing that when they dial 911 for an emergency, or in times of disaster, we now have a state of the art building that will enhance our ability to provide them with governmental services," said Sims.
Named in honor of the late King County Councilmember Kent Pullen, the building houses the King County Sheriff's Office 911 Communications Center and King County's Office of Emergency Management (OEM). The Kent Pullen RCECC is built to accommodate present and future requirements of the Communications Center and OEM and is designed to function well for both natural disasters and human caused events like terrorism.
The RCECC is a secured "hardened" building designed to survive a major earthquake and remain functional. The 34,870 square foot facility is a newly designed and constructed one-story building located in the City of Renton. The E911 Communications Center occupies approximately 12,000 square feet and includes a dispatch center, offices, storage and recorder/playback rooms and training rooms. The OEM occupies 8,300 square feet and includes the main coordination room, associated break-out rooms, audio-visual display system and support spaces, a radio room and administration office space. The lobby, policy/conference room, training/media rooms, kitchen/break rooms and telecomm/server room, takes up the shared space of 12,747 square feet.
"During emergencies information is a key factor in our ability to support governments and residents," said Sims. "This region must have a central location from which to coordinate an emergency response. This new facility will be the hub of our communications and coordination efforts."
"We are proud to call this new facility home for our communications team," added Sheriff Dave Reichert. "The public will be safer for having made this investment. Emergency personnel can now better serve King County residents."
Councilmember Gossett states, "I'm excited because this center will enable us to meet our public safety and security goals. It meets all the building requirements that we laid out for it when we first allocated the capital funds for its creation."
The facility provides operational capabilities for the sheriff's office and emergency management activations 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. Nearly centered on the county geographically, the facility has the flexibility to both track and respond to small emergencies and expand to deal with potential catastrophic disasters that may strike.
The RCECC will ensure that alerts and warnings are provided countywide to King County departments, communications centers, cities and the public. The facility will also allow for staff to collect and coordinate information from county agencies, cities, districts and private industry and communicate information to the public.
Updated: Sept. 30, 2003
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