Emergency-Ops Center Braces for Hurricanes; the Jacksonville Site Becomes a Mini-City at Its Busiest Time

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Byline: JESSIE-LYNNE KERR

When a disaster threatens Jacksonville and its Emergency Operations Center activates to the highest Level I, it's like a mini-city operating on the fourth floor of the fortress-like fire department headquarters building on Julia Street.

This is what the city is prepared for with last week's storms finally about over and next up hurricane season June 1 to Nov. 30.

Sitting at tables arranged around three sides of a large conference room will be the executive group -- the mayor flanked by the sheriff and the fire and rescue director and joined by about 20 other key officials from across agencies and departments.

The mayor becomes the incident commander, said Marty Senterfitt, a fire and rescue chief who is in charge of the Emergency Preparedness Division and serves as the deputy incident commander.

The mayor and executive group are backed up by hundreds behind the scene and out on the streets organized into four sections -- operations, logistics, planning and finance/administration.

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