Parisi: Dane County to Move Emergency Preparedness, Response Services to Fitchburg

January 23, 2020
Ariana Vruwink, 608-267-8823
County Executive

County to Acquire Former Fitchburg Fire Station, Redevelop Site for New Dane County Emergency Operations Center, Headquarters for Emergency Management

Dane County has agreed to acquire property in the City of Fitchburg that once remodeled will become home to the County’s Emergency Operations Center and Offices of Emergency Management, County Executive Joe Parisi announced today. The county has agreed to purchase the site of the former Fitchburg Fire Station #2 at 5415 King James Way for $1.8 million from a development company.  A resolution to approve the purchase will be introduced at Thursday’s meeting of the Dane County Board of Supervisors.

“Acquiring this site will enable all of our Dane County Emergency Management functions and resources to be centrally located all under one roof,” Parisi said. “As we’ve seen with recent flooding, severe snows, or other natural events like the Verona tornado from a few years ago, it’s important to have the space necessary to coordinate regional responses. This former fire station will allow us to significantly expand our Emergency Operations Center and the other work we do in preparedness and response,” Parisi added.

Because the building is an old fire station, the County will be able to move its Emergency Response Command Vehicle – known as CV-1 – to these new Emergency Management offices. That vehicle is currently housed at county owned facilities in the Town of Blooming Grove.

“The opportunity to bring in all of our preparedness and response personnel, equipment, and resources into one facility positions us well for whatever incidents require our assistance,” County Emergency Management Director Charles Tubbs said. This additional space will allow us to better facilitate trainings and really offers incredible flexibility.”

The current Dane County Emergency Management Offices and Emergency Operations Center are located in the Public Safety Building. In addition to being able to take advantage of the greater space in Fitchburg, this move will help streamline the upcoming Dane County Jail consolidation project, which is slated to begin in 2021.

Pending final approval by the County Board of the purchase from 5415 KJW LLC, the county will look to begin remodeling the site this summer with an estimated move in date of around January, 2021.