PEARL, Miss. (MEMA) – The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has purchased a facility that will act as the new State Emergency Logistical Operations Center (SELOC). The new warehouse space will serve as the primary location for MEMA’s personal protective equipment stockpile.
The building is located at 1055 Mendell Davis Drive, Byram. It sits on 16 acres and consists of 103,000 square feet of climate-controlled warehouse space as well as 8,800 square feet of administrative office space. The warehouse was purchased with federal CARES Act funds allocated to MEMA at a total of $2,360,000.
“Because of federal CARES Act funds Mississippi can continue to build our state stockpile of PPE. Not only are we truly prepared for the worst if another outbreak occurs, this new logistical operations center is one more asset MEMA has to serve Mississippians in times of disasters,” says Governor Tate Reeves.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a challenge to accommodate the sheer volume of PPE supplies necessary to support the statewide response. Currently, MEMA has COVID-19 supplies located in six different facilities throughout the Jackson Metro. The new SELOC will help improve the efficiency of MEMA’s operations by providing a central location for all COVID-19 logistical, procurement and allocation efforts. Additionally, the warehouse space will be used to store MEMA’s 60-day stockpile of essential PPE supplies.
“While this facility will be an immense asset to the state’s COVID-19 response, MEMA’s vision for the logistical operations center extends past the pandemic. In the future, the facility will serve as a permanent space to hold disaster response and relief supplies in addition to emergency management equipment. It will also be the permanent location for MEMA’s procurement and allocation branches. Overall, this new facility will help support MEMA’s future growth in all aspects of the agency’s operations,” says MEMA Executive Director Greg Michel.
In the event that the State Emergency Operations Center in Pearl is not accessible during an emergency, the new SELOC will serve as the agency’s primary work site to ensure the continuity of essential operations during a disaster.
Click here to view drone video footage of the new State Emergency Logistical Operations Center.
The official opening of MEMA’s State Emergency Logistical Operations Center will be some time in November. More information will follow.
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