New 35-foot trailer to serve as mobile command unit for EMS workers

KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT) — The Lenoir County Emergency Services added its newest tool toward maintaining public safety, a 35-foot trailer serving a mobile command unit.

The trailer brings a level of stability to the scene of an incident where public safety employees have a place to meet and coordinate during major incidents.

(Samuel Kornegay/Lenoir Co Emergency Services Deputy Director)
“In Eastern North Carolina, I think it’s typical, we operate out of the back of our vehicles, so when we pull up to a scene, you may see us grab our laptops and go to the back of our vehicles and work off our tailgate,” Lenoir County Emergency Services Deputy Director Samuel Kornegay said. “Now we have an actual trailer, so we can get out of the weather.”

The trailer has five working stations, a conference area, a kitchenette and a bathroom. It has phones, air conditioning, heat and internet.

(Samuel Kornegay/Lenoir Co Emergency Services Deputy Director)
“It has the ability to have multiple carriers, so no matter where we’re at, whoever has the highest signals, it’ll transmit off those signals,” Kornegay said. “We have the ability to do microphones to where everybody in the field can hear us.”

Kornegay said the plan is to share the trailer. “Multiple agencies, you know? The sheriff’s department, police department, fire department, EMS, even agencies from other counties, coming in to help us mitigate whatever we have going on,” he said.

He said the trailer got to them just in time for hurricane season. “Most of the time, after the hurricane hits, you have water rescues, you have people who need assistance getting out of their homes,” Kornegay said. “This can be deployed to those areas and provide that sense of stability and a location that all the responders and key decision makers can meet.”

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