Cape Girardeau Co. EMA working to consolidate equipment at one location

CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) - Cape Girardeau County leaders say they need a better place to store emergency response equipment.

“It’s definitely a challenge having equipment spread out,” said Mark Winkler, director of the Cape County Emergency Management Agency.

He said the emergency equipment is currently stored in four different locations in the county.

“Some are stored at the highway shed at 34 and 72 and some of the county assets are at the health department over on Linden in Cape Girardeau and we have some equipment here at this facility at our admin building at number 1 Barton Square in Jackson. We also have some equipment down at the city of Jackson fire house,” Winkler said.

This animal emergency response trailer is located at the Cape Girardeau County Health Department.

It’s an example of one piece of emergency equipment that would be stored in one building.

“It needs to be well thought out so that it is a good design and concept for the future,” said Winkler.

Winkler said having easy access to their equipment will make things a lot easier when responding to emergencies.

That’s why the county is exploring options for creating a centralized location.

“Our plan is to bring all of the equipment that we have in the county, either that we own or that were responsible for, put it all in one location in an area that is suitable and spacious enough that we could park the equipment inside keep it out of the weather,” Winkler said.

Winkler said they are still in the early stages of this project, but they hope to have everything planned out soon.

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