MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Macomb County is home to the third-largest emergency dispatch center in the state of Michigan. The center has a bird’s-eye view and the ability to help half the county instantly.
Brandon Lewis, the Macomb County director of emergency management and communications, took us inside the heart of the operation for a close look at how information flows.
Watch the video report below:
"We have this 20-by-50-foot video wall that we can use for situational awareness. So, we can see with our own eyes what's going on during any critical event," Lewis said.
Lewis says the dispatch center sometimes sees what’s going on in the field before first responders arrive.
“We can see camera feeds from approximately 350 different traffic cameras in Macomb County,” he said. “Pretty much if you can think of it, we can figure out a way to put it up there.”
For severe weather situations, they have the tools to assist in real-time.
“Like today with the threat of severe weather, you can see we have The Weather Channel going on one of our panels, we have weather radar going on one of the panels,” Lewis said. “so that we can see what’s going on there in real time and we can make response decisions based on what we're seeing.”
“So we're actively monitoring. We're communicating with all of our community partners, letting them know what we're seeing and kind of watching what's going on.”
The dispatch center covers every part of the county except the city of Warren, with nine different areas of operation that crews can come from and hi-technology.
“We have about 800,000 residents that we're looking out for,” Lewis said.
Related video: Detroit Water and Sewerage Department prepares for severe storms, residents brace for flooding
Lewis described tornadoes in southwest Michigan late last week as tragic and surprising.
“It’s just tragic. First of all, you don't see that type of tornado with that type of intensity often in Michigan at all and then to see it in March and to see how it caught everybody by surprise with so little warning,” Lewis said. “It's tragic and my heart goes out to the residents on the west side of the state.”
Related video: 'That’s the kind of town we are': Community steps up for Michigan tornado victims
DTE says crews are ready and staged to respond to any outages.
