Contact: Craig Whittington
Phone: 336-373-2506
Guilford Metro 9-1-1 Preparedness Exercise Set for May 10
GREENSBORO, NC – (May 3, 2011) – Guilford Metro 9-1-1 will pull the plug on the consolidated City/County 9-1-1 center, 1201 Coliseum Blvd., Tuesday, May 10, during its bi-annual disaster preparedness exercise. All of the 9-1-1 center communications personnel and operations will move to the backup location, the former Guilford County 9-1-1 center, for the 72-hour “plugs out” event, which was postponed in April.
According to Guilford Metro 9-1-1 Special Projects Coordinator Craig Whittington, residents should not notice any difference in 9-1-1 service when the switch to the backup center is made at 6:30 am Tuesday morning. “This kind of real-life exercise prepares our staff in the event of a man-made or natural disaster impacting or disabling the primary 9-1-1 center. Be it flood, fire, or whatever may cause an evacuation, the goal is that 9-1-1 operations will not be affected.”
Thanks to the consolidation and co-location of the former City and County 9-1-1 centers, Guilford Metro is one of few 9-1-1 centers in the nation with a fully equipped or “mirrored” backup center. “It’s really a rare situation to have an exact duplicate 9-1-1 facility across town,” says Guilford Metro 9-1-1 Director Wesley Reid. “Thanks to the forethought of the elected leaders in both Greensboro and Guilford County, the backup center is always there in a hot standby or ready-to-go mode.”
Whittington says the exercise is part of the 9-1-1 center’s overall Continuity of Operations Plan, or CoOP, and is required by the federal government. The event occurs every six months to get the operations staff comfortable with the move to the backup center and activation process. “This exercise allows us to test all the equipment and technology in a real world or ‘under load’ situation so that if anything ever compromised the main center, we could still maintain all critical operations in the backup center,” says Whittington. “Our primary goal is to be there for the residents.”
For more information, contact Whittington at 336-373-2506.
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The City works with the community to improve the quality of life for residents through inclusion, diversity, and trust. As the seventh largest employer in Greensboro, the City has a professional staff of 2,800 employees who maintain the values of honesty, integrity, stewardship, and respect. The City is governed by a council-manager form of government with a mayor and eight council members. For more information on the City, visit www.greensboro-nc.gov or call 336-373-CITY (2489).
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