The Texas A&M University System is gearing up to open an over 100,000-square-foot emergency management hub in east Fort Worth at the end of July.
“This is a game changer,” said Nim Kidd, vice chancellor for disaster and emergency services at the Texas A&M University System. “In Texas, based on state law and our practice, we say all disasters are local.”
The $24.5 million building in the Handley area is not just a distribution center for emergency supplies, as it will have meeting rooms, an emergency operations center and training rooms. The Fort Worth center is part of a statewide plan to have a facility like it within three hours of every Texan.
Kidd, who is also the chief of Texas Division of Emergency Management, said the building would bolster how Texas responds to or is prepared for any emergency — natural or human-caused. The Texas Division of Emergency Management, which is a part of the Texas A&M University System, will operate the center.
When asked if the proximity to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Texas A&M-Fort Worth factored into the decision to locate in Fort Worth, Kidd’s response was “all of the above.”
Having the building in the heart of the metroplex gives many municipalities access to the center.
Ultimately, mayors and county judges, per state law, are the primary emergency management directors, Kidd said. But the new resource center will help any local efforts with state support. Similar warehouses are in San Antonio and College Station.
The Texas A&M University System bought a newly constructed warehouse for $18.4 million, spending an additional $6 million on upgrades. The building will be climate-controlled and have 100% emergency backup power.
“I think it’s in a pretty good place to be out of the way and accessible at the same time,” Kidd said of the location of the Fort Worth warehouse. “Ideally, I do not want to be in a high hazard or high traffic area, but at the same time, I want to be out of the way and then close to things that we need to get to.”
Emergency response officials are planning to start in the fall an eight-month Texas Emergency Management Academy at the east Fort Worth center, where the academy’s recruits and selected police, fire and EMS employees from surrounding areas can get training and statewide credentialing in field response methods to emergency situations. The graduates can then become certified emergency managers.
Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center.
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