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Does anyone have info about when the new Seattle Fire Dept. Fire Alarm Center (FAC) was fully operational? I didn't see any news releases about it but did find a mention buried in a status report that it supposedly is up and running as of this month.

http://www.seattle.gov/fleetsfacilities ... 152008.pdf

Kerwin

Is this the one that some city crazy's decided to put under a hill (near 5th. and Yesler so when the 800 system goes down in the really big one they will have to send someone to the top of First Hill to relay to Bellevue. In Seattle why wouldn't you put all communication facilities at one of our six hills so just incase you could go outside and have fairly good comms.

You are right on the Mark. One of the very first sites looked at was an area around Westcrest Park --West Seattle -- near 8th SW and Barton. High hill -- with property owned by the City and was almost perfectly centered in King County. The Westcrest property could have even been -- and may some day in the far off future -- be a very good location for a "Central" County / City PSAP for both the County and City. From Westcrest you can access just about every transmitter location in the system -- but not all. But becuse of the Water Reservoir nearby -- this site was omitted from the list. Keep in mind that one of the City's First "Civil Defense" centers was located under Interstate 5 -- in North Seattle. The Government has a "one track mind". Under-ground protects better from "the bomb". The fact that an "over-turned oil tanker truck" could "take out" any such shelter -- is not part of anyone's thinking.

Of course, it's also within a stone's throw of the entrance to the downtown Seattle train tunnel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Street_Tunnel_fire

Let's just hope that doesn't happen here, because if it does, the EOC and FAC will be unusable. Hopefully they have a good backup site. At least they're all firefighters so they'll know how to use SCBAs if there's an overturned haz mat rail car right next to the dispatch center.

Why not put it at Sand Point?

Oddly enough, and apropos of completely nothing at all, I saw the City of Tacoma's EOC today...Located on a pier off Ruston Way. Not sure of the radio coverage from there.

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