New mobile command unit brings Elgin’s Emergency Operations Center directly to the scene

Emergency management is all about being prepared for the unknown.

Elgin Fire Chief Robb Cagann says the city’s new mobile emergency operations vehicle makes the city more prepared to deal with a crisis when it happens. It also provides flexibility most communities don’t have.

Elgin Command 1, a 43-foot-long mobile command center built on an International truck chassis, will serve as the city’s Emergency Operation Center (EOC). Until now, officials had used one room in the basement of city hall that needed expensive upgrades.

“We couldn’t get radio communications out. We could hardly get cellphone service,” Cagann said. “Money had been thrown into it a little at a time. But if we were really going to make that an EOC, we were going to have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

City council members in 2021 unanimously agreed to spend $826,000 to purchase the vehicle. The city picked it up on Jan. 30.

“We could spend the same amount of money for a static room that could only be used for those big emergency events we get once every few years, or we could put it into a mobile unit that will get much more use,” Cagann said.

Cagann said the command center can be on-site for days if necessary during weather emergencies, commercial and apartment fires, water main breaks, situations with a prolonged police presence like a barricaded subject or hostage situation, and planned events that use command centers like Nightmare on Chicago Street and the annual Fourth of July fireworks.

“We either needed the room or we did this,” Cagann said. “And this is all about flexibility. We will use this far more for non-large scale emergency management because they just don’t happen all that often.”

When Elgin needed a mobile command unit in the past, it would request to borrow one from the Kane County Office of Emergency Management, which uses a smaller converted motor home with a fraction of the technology.

The Elgin vehicle can be used by any city department that needs it. But it will be housed and driven by members of the fire department.

“This is truly a city of Elgin vehicle,” Cagann said. “It’s about emergency management and not any one entity. It allows us to coordinate every team involved, from police, fire, public works, aid organizations and more from the site of an emergency or event.”

The vehicle’s technology is impressive. It has a 44-foot extendable mast with dual cameras that have infrared capabilities, as well as five perimeter cameras on the body of the vehicle.

The truck has its own Wi-Fi and can also connect to the city’s network. There are phones and police and fire radio systems. There is also an emergency dispatch console that could handle 911 duties, if necessary.

Seven monitors inside can stream the views from the outside cameras, drones, video calls and broadcast channels.

The vehicle is essentially three sections. The rear is for operations, with three workstations on each side for police and fire and a central work table that can be removed.

The front is more of a meeting room that can accommodate more than a dozen people. The middle section is for dispatch and has a small galley with a mini refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave.

An onboard diesel generator could run the operation site for four to five days without a refill. There’s an outer command center with monitors, radios and a PA system for making announcements or holding briefings.

There’s even a charging station on the outside rear with a dozen plugs and multiple USB and USB-C outlets behind a fold-down table that could allow residents without power to charge their phones.

Cagann said Elgin’s new mobile command center is the only one like it in the state.

“The community wants us to be prepared, to be ready to respond in the most efficient and effective way,” he said. “This vehicle helps provide that efficiency and effectiveness as a coordination point for multiple entities.”

The city is planning a public safety open house so residents can see the vehicle up close and learn more about it.

Cagann said he understands some people might not see the need for such an expensive piece of equipment.

“I know it’s expensive, but this is a 30-year vehicle,” Cagann said. “These types of things are insurance policies. But instead of having an insurance policy sit in a room and never get used, we have this insurance policy that can be used for so many different things.”