Wright State National Center for Medical Readiness partners with state agency to ensure emergency preparedness for Ohio

Calamityville is the only exercise training environment in the country that’s sponsored by a medical school.

Wright State University’s National Center for Medical Readiness (NCMR) Tactical Laboratory will become the alternate site for the state of Ohio’s state emergency operations center as a result of an agreement signed today by the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and NCMR.

This alternate state emergency operations center, to be located at the NCMR Tactical Laboratory (TL) in Fairborn, will support the state of Ohio’s plan to provide continuity of operations and government during emergencies such as severe weather events, terrorist attacks or hazardous materials incidents.

The Ohio Emergency Management Agency (EMA) maintains the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) in Franklin County for use in emergency response. This agreement will designate the NCMR-TL as an alternate operations center for state department and agency representatives working in response to a disaster, in the event that the primary SEOC is unavailable for that purpose. The alternate SEOC site will also serve as a training venue for emergency management personnel, and periodic exercises will be conducted to ensure seamless transition from the state facility.

“This project will give the State of Ohio Emergency Operations Center an alternate location if for some reason our current SEOC becomes unavailable,” said Nancy J. Dragani, executive director for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

NCMR was established by the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine. Designated as a University System of Ohio Center of Excellence, NCMR is a community-wide effort to enhance the resilience of the region and the state in response to significant disasters or emergencies. NCMR’s emphasis is medical readiness, although it serves the broader purpose of disaster preparedness.

NCMR established its Tactical Laboratory, also known as Calamityville, as a state-of-the-art, collaborative training and research facility to provide a one-of-a-kind training opportunity for medical, public health, public safety and civilian and military disaster response decision makers. The NCMR-TL houses the Joint Command Operations Research Environment (J-CORE) in its on-site learning center. J-CORE is a working laboratory for investigation of operational command and control methods and integrations. One of J-CORE’s five operational modes includes a configuration as a full emergency operations center for supporting agencies or incident command during an emergency.

“We are pleased to partner with the Ohio EMA to ensure Ohio is prepared to meet any emergency that may occur,” said William Harchick, associate director of operations at NCMR. “Our Tactical Laboratory is the perfect location for this alternate site. In addition to having the expertise, facilities and equipment necessary to operate a fully functioning alternate emergency operations center, Calamityville is located outside the risk area of Columbus and is close to major interstate highways and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.”