FITCHBURG, Wis. — Dane County has a new Emergency Operations Center that has already proved useful during big weather events.

It’s located in a former fire station in Fitchburg, at 2982 Kapec Road. Dane County bought the building in 2020 and spent more than $5.5 million renovating it into an operations center.

Dane County Emergency Management Director, Charles Tubbs, said the new facility in Fitchburg is a huge improvement from the small, outdated space that used to be on the second floor of the county’s public safety building.

“Basically, what we had before was a room where we had to come in and set up tables and chairs, and phones, and be hopeful that everything was going to work and work well,” he said. “Those are very difficult times under a crisis situation.”

The new Emergency Operations Center in Fitchburg is always ready, with dozens of phone connections, increased Wi-Fi and cellular capacity, monitors for video conferencing, radio communications and an audio system. Its large attached garage means the county’s mobile command unit and other equipment to aid first responders is now all under one roof.

This allows faster coordination in emergency situations and severe weather, like the tornado and significant snowstorm that affected the region earlier this winter.

“We want to be able to protect people,” said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. “We want to be able to focus the best and the brightest in one place with the best technologies, so that we can be there for people when they’re in need.”

Tubbs said it’s an investment that can, and will, save lives in situations where every second counts.

“We have some of the best technology here,” he said. “We have very well trained a great staff to work with. So, we want to move it forward and be the best we can be, not only in a crisis, but with day-to-day operations.”