As the cornerstone for community safety during a crisis, the Emergency Services Building’s Emergency Operations Center is critical for the protection of Charleston County residents. When it came to a full-suite upgrade and renovation of their AV infrastructure, Charleston County needed a reliable, committed project team. Feyen Zylstra’s expertise, innovation, and experience made them the ideal contractor for the job.

The Emergency Services Building serves as the crisis hub for Charleston County in the case of a natural disaster or widespread emergency. Representatives from across all public safety environments gather to monitor incoming information, deploy resources, and make informed decisions about public safety and evacuation. Feyen Zylstra helped design and install the new Audio-Visual infrastructure and system for the facility.

Emergency Operation Center
The Emergency Operations Center serves as ground zero and houses all the major representatives during a crisis. In order to ensure that relevant information is delivered to the appropriate parties, FZ designed an AV system which interprets and sorts incoming information into specific channels through a new Crestron AV system. Each channel is then displayed onto a monitor near where the relevant group is stationed, thus provided them with the information they need to make informed decisions.

In the past, a major challenge of the center was background sound levels. With overhead audio playing on loop, announcements, and multiple monitors streaming video - noise levels easily got out of hand. In order to overcome this issue, our team integrated a “Listen Everywhere” solution within the Crestron AV system. The app allows individuals to easily connect to a video source and listen to the audio via headphones, thus helping mitigate background noise and lower overall stress.

In order to get real-time external reports, our team integrated an existing Polycom Video Conferencing system into both the Crestron and Starleaf Video Conferencing Systems. This integration allows individuals outside of the hub to report back to the group via a live video stream.

Our team also installed overhead audio speakers that connect with microphones for easy announcements. We also provided and integrated a touch panel at the center’s main podium that has full control over the system. The system can also be easily accessed and controlled via a mobile iPad so that the communications team can control the system from anywhere in the building.

Incident Meeting Room
The Incident Meeting Room is used during an emergency by the top decision makers to conduct conference calls with entities across the county and state, monitor major changes, and make top-level decisions. Our team installed and integrated a Starleaf Video Conferencing System, a Crestron AV system, and three large monitors for the room. All of the Emergency Services Building’s Crestron AV systems connect so that the team can quickly and securely transfer information back and forth between locations. The use of audio integration also allows the room to function as a teleconference location with simple and
effective audio abilities.

Citizens Information Center
During a crisis, the Citizens Information Call Center houses 20+ individuals who field phone calls from the public and disseminate important information. Our team upgraded the space with a Crestron AV system and multiple monitors so that the most relevant information, policies, and procedures being generated by the Emergency Operations Center can be displayed. This allows the call takers to provide the most up to date information to the citizens of Charleston County.

Media Room
The Media Room is used for news conferences and briefings during a state of emergency. With media sources entering this space, security is of the up-most importance. In order to maintain the safety of the entire operation, a secure, touch-panel is used to cast content onto a 2ft by 2ft video wall. Our team developed a password-protected field for the touch panel that keeps unauthorized users from tampering with the system.

We also installed a vaddio ptz camera which allows news conference video to be streamed into the operations center for the team to view.

When not being used during a crisis, the space and system are used by the Charleston County’s dispatch team to simulcast trainings.