Harford County Breaks Ground On New Emergency Center

FOREST HILL, Md. (AP) -- Harford County officials have broken ground on a new emergency operations center.

The new Department of Emergency Services headquarters will cost $45 million and is scheduled to be fully operational by December 2015.

The existing facility was built more than 50 years ago and has been renovated twice. It has 37,800 square feet of space. The new complex will be more than three times as large, at 116,000 square feet.

Ground was broken Sunday on the first of two phases of the project, which will be built adjacent to the current facility. The first phase is a 66,000 square-foot building that will house the Emergency Operations Center, communications center and administrative offices. A second, 55,000 square-foot structure will provide space for the county's hazmat teams and radio shop.

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