RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Wake County’s emergency operations center is now up and running.

County and city leaders held a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning opening the facility after renovations.

Some of the new features include high tech information displays, teleconferencing features to connect with local, state and national officials, and more space.

“A lot of things were space related, so for example our public call center had to be set up somewhat on the fly,” said Emergency Management Operations Manager, Darshan Patel. “Now we have a dedicated call center on the rear of this facility so when we activate the emergency operations center with the flip of the switch we have the call center activated as well so we can more quickly answer the public’s questions when we have a large emergency disaster. “

Last year the county announced $1 million in federal funding to support the nearly $7 million dollar project.

The county said the renovations are needed as more people move to the area.

The new center also helps first responders like Mike Lyons.

He’s been with Wake County EMS for almost two decades and even helped during Hurricane Florence in 2018. 

“I think it just expands the capability of the emergency operations center, will help improve real time communications and give us some real time intel on what’s going on in the county,” said Lyons.

Other features include space dedicated to mental health for first responders.

The county also received about a million dollars in federal funding to support the project.