Chester County emergency management showcases mobile command center for incident response

Ed Derby, director of emergency management for Chester County, demonstrated the county’s mobile command center and described how officials use the vehicle to coordinate searches, fires and other large incidents. “A mobile command center is a vehicle that we can take to a large incident scene,” Derby said, adding it brings command staff and decision tools directly to the scene.

Derby said the vehicle, acquired a few years ago, is deployed about once a month for incidents and exercises around Chester County. He pointed to a 38-foot mast mounted on the rear that carries a high-definition camera capable of zooming in to give command staff detailed views of an incident and to direct search or fire teams.

Inside the vehicle operators work from a controller station that can display multiple camera angles and pull up live drone footage. “We can watch the drone fly over an area that may be on fire,” Derby said, explaining that seeing live footage helps crews identify flare-ups or areas that need attention and then direct ground units to specific locations.

Derby described an interactive mapping capability that lets staff mark landing zones, plot grids and place command posts for search operations. He said the mapping process is part of the county’s ArcGIS setup and that Chester County 911 and the sheriff’s real-time crime center use the same map, enabling shared situational awareness.

The vehicle contains new monitors, a computer system, a printer and 800-megahertz radios for voice communications with the sheriff’s office, fire units, city police and other partners. Derby noted that the state emergency management division can assign incident channels so teams statewide can be added to the network if needed.

He also listed partner agencies that have used the mobile command, including the Chester County sheriff’s office, city police, Department of Natural Resources, the State Law Enforcement Division and, on occasion, FBI agents, saying the vehicle supports multiagency planning and response.

Derby emphasized communications redundancy — cell-based and satellite systems — to maintain connectivity across Chester County’s mix of plains, hills and more rugged terrain. He added that if technology fails, staff rely on a whiteboard inside the vehicle to track search areas, staffing and shift changes during the mobile command’s around-the-clock operations.

Derby invited residents to view the vehicle during periodic equipment tests at public sites such as Chester Park and in Richburg. “Come by and say hello. We’ll be glad to show it to you and invite you in,” he said.

The demonstration supplied officials’ operational details but did not include funding or procurement specifics; those were not specified in the presentation.