County Embarks On $1.8 Million Overhaul Of Emergency Services Facility

Ground was ceremonially broken Thursday to upgrade the Bucks County Emergency Services Division facility.

The $1.8 million modernization and expansion project will help the county’s centrally-located facility in Ivyland Borough create a current workspace and adapt to needs borne out by modern emergencies.

The emergency operations center will be expanded and conform to a modern design. The room will be expanded from a former fire truck garage into what is currently part of the parking lot, Bucks County Project and Diversity Officer Bernard Griggs Jr. said.

Officials said the project additionally will triple the amount of meeting space, install new technology in the building, and add a press briefing space.

Parking at the facility has long been tight, as it is boxed in by a surrounding large retirement community, homes, and a business park. However, officials said some equipment that previously took up space at the site is being relocated to a county warehouse to free up parking spots.

In about a week, the 9-1-1 center will move from the facility to the backup space on the seventh floor of the Bucks County Administration Building in Doylestown Borough as the permanent spot is upgraded.

The construction on the overhaul of the facility is expected to take about 10 months.

The Bucks County Commissioners grabbed shovels and broke ground on the expansion, but work to update the interior of the building is already underway.

Bucks County Commissioners Chairperson Bob Harvie, a Democrat, said the pandemic proved to the governing body that work on the facility was needed.

“Last summer’s flooding, tornadoes, and hurricane only underscored that need,” he said.

Harvie said the facility became a hub of operations during the pandemic and it became obvious to county officials that more space was needed.

Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, said the overhaul and expansion is needed and will serve the county as it deals with future emergencies ranging from human-made to natural disasters.

Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, a Republican, said the project is a “top priority” for county government.

“We’ve got to make sure the emergency operations center is first class,” he said. “This is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Audrey Kenny, the county’s director of emergency services, has worked in the building for several years and noted it needs the upgrades.

“Each and every service our staff provides from this building is critical to keeping Bucks County safe,” she said. “The commissioners’ continued investment in us, and shared commitment to our cause empowers our emergency services and emergency management teams to be the best in the business.”

Kenny said Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker has offered up his agency’s renovated space in Doylestown Township as a temporary emergency operations center if it is needed.

The facility, the former fire station for the closed Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, houses the county’s 9-1-1 center, emergency management agency, emergency operations center, county fire marshal, special operations and hazmat teams, and Bucks County Emergency Health Services.

The county took over the former fire station from the federal government and has been using it for emergency services for more than 20 years. In 2008, the building was expanded and the 9-1-1 center moved in.

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