Construction on the county’s new dispatch center is about halfway completed.
The 33,000 square foot space is being transformed into the county’s new home for DuPage Public Safety Communications – or DU-COMM.
“So when there is an emergency of any kind in the county, they’ll all be able to communicate effectively and immediately between each other,” said DuPage County Board Member Jim Healy.
Some of the facility is being renovated to house ETSB and Emergency Management, but this new addition is being built for DU-COMM to withstand emergency conditions.
“It will actually be able to sustain 250 mile an hour winds,” said Healy. “So the hurricane that hit Florida, this would actually be able to withstand that. It would be able to withstand a direct hit from a category five tornado.”
County board members said the facility is a win-win situation, making use of the unused building in the government complex on County Farm Road in Wheaton and leaving room to expand into the future.
“This will give us a 25-year solution to our 911 problems,” said Gary Grasso, a DuPage County Board member and chairman of the Emergency Telephone System Board.
The new location will also act as a backup to other facilities, guaranteeing coverage for the county during service outages.
Construction is expected to be completed next September.
Naperville News 17’s Beth Bria reports.