ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Allentown is getting a new emergency operations hub. The facility will provide more space for training firefighters from across the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
An influx of hundreds of thousands of federal and state dollars will help build the Allentown Fire Department Emergency Operations Center which will be located behind the Mack South Fire Station near the Queen City Municipal Airport.
Allentown Fire Chief Efrain Agosto said it will modernize and expand the Allentown Fire Training Academy.
“We’re looking at potentially regionalizing our training and bringing individuals,” Agosto said. “We already bring in individuals from Bethelehen and Easton who come in and train but we have jurisdictions such as Scranton, Lancaster, and Manheim asking ‘What is the availability for them to be able to come and train with us?’”
This means a better trained fire emergency workforce in the valley to be equipped to handle fires and other types of disasters that may strike, Agosto said.
U.S Rep. Susan Wild (D-Lehigh/Monroe) was at the Mack South Fire Station Wednesday to deliver a check for nearly $130,000 from federal Community Project Funding.
She said Allentown is overdue to bolster emergency operations.
“It is the core of the Lehigh Valley, it has the largest population,” Wild said. “We’ve seen that we unfortunately often have weather crises where we need an essential place where the emergency agencies can come and respond to various emergencies.”
Allentown’s fire chief says the timeline for the new Emergency Operations Center’s opening is unclear, but officials said they hoped to get started soon.
A representative from State Sen. Pat Browne’s (R-Lehigh) office also said Wednesday he was also able to secure more than $200,000 in state funding to help build the new facility.
Both Wild and Browne are up for reelection this year.
