Fire chiefs and EMA board press Trumbull County to move Emergency Management Agency from building over persistent odor; commissioners weigh ARPA funds and 'plan

Public safety officials and members of the Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) told the Board of Commissioners on Oct. 1 that the EMA’s current facility is no longer suitable for use as an emergency operations center and must be relocated or repaired.

Steve Kreger, fire chief of Bristol Township and member of the Trumbull County Fire Chiefs Association, told commissioners that the facility would not support a large‑scale distribution operation like the county conducted during the COVID‑19 response. "If something would happen now, we could not function. We would have to find another building somewhere else, move the entire EOC," he said.

EMA board chairman Edward Anthony and Trumbull County Hazmat Chief Kevin Keradnick described a persistent smell in the building that attendees and visiting instructors noticed during recent trainings and said the odor and security concerns make routine operations and public meetings difficult. "Our patients are wearing thin," Anthony told the board, urging a firm plan if federal funds are not available.

Why it matters: EMA and the county’s fire and hazmat teams said the…