Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox military installation

The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a government command facility located near Frogtown, Clarke County, Virginia, used as the center of operations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Also known as the High Point Special Facility (HPSF), its preferred designation since 1991 is "SF".<ref name= "hideaway">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The facility is a primary relocation site for the highest level of civilian and military officials in case of national disaster, playing a significant role in continuity of government (per the U.S. Continuity of Operations Plan).<ref name="clui">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Mount Weather is the location of a control station for the FEMA National Radio System (FNARS), a high frequency radio system connecting most federal public safety agencies and the U.S. military with most of the states.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> FNARS allows the president to access the Emergency Alert System.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The site was brought into the public eye in 1974 by The Washington Post and the Associated Press, which mentioned the facility following the crash of TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727 jetliner, into Mount Weather on December 1 of that year resulting in the deaths of 92 people.<ref name=pcinva>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LocationEdit

Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains,<ref name="clui"/> access to the operations center is available via State Route 601 (also called Blueridge Mountain Road) in Bluemont, Virginia.<ref name= "cheney's cave">Template:Cite news</ref> The facility is located near Purcellville, Virginia, Template:Convert west of Washington, D.C.<ref name ="worst">Template:Cite news</ref>

The site was initially opened as a weather station in the late 1800s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> William Jackson Humphreys was selected as the supervising director for the Mount Weather Research Observatory, which was operational from 1904 to 1914. In 1928, the observatory building was the summer White House for Calvin Coolidge.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The site was used as a Civilian Public Service facility (Camp #114) during World War II.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At that time, there were just two permanent buildings on the site: the administration/dormitory building, and the laboratory. Those buildings still stand, supplemented by many more modern buildings.

The underground facility within Mount Weather, designated "Area B", was completed in 1959. FEMA established training facilities on the mountain's surface ("Area A") in 1979.<ref name ="training site bunker">Template:Cite news</ref>

The above-ground portion of the FEMA complex (Area A) is at least Template:Convert. This measurement includes a training area of unspecified size.<ref name="training site bunker"/> Area B, the underground component, contains Template:Convert.<ref name="worst"/>

Notable activations and evacuationsEdit

The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center saw the first full-scale activation of the facility during the Northeast blackout of 1965.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to a letter to the editor of The Washington Post, after the September 11 attacks, most of the congressional leadership were evacuated to Mount Weather by helicopter.<ref name="worst"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Between 1979 and 1981, the National Gallery of Art developed a program to transport valuable paintings in its collection to Mount Weather via helicopter. The success of the relocation would depend upon how far in advance warning of an attack was received.<ref name= "leonardo">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In the mediaEdit

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }} The first video of Mount Weather shot from the air to be broadcast on national TV was filmed by ABC News producer Bill Lichtenstein, and was included in the 1983 20/20 segment "Nuclear Preparation: Can We Survive", featuring 20/20 correspondent Tom Jarriel. Lichtenstein flew over the Mount Weather facility with an ABC camera crew. The news magazine report also included House Majority Leader Tip O'Neill and Representative Ed Markey, confirming that there were contingency plans for the relocation of the United States government in the event of a nuclear war or major disaster.

Mount Weather and the now-deactivated bunker at The Greenbrier were featured in the A&E documentary Bunkers. The documentary, first broadcast on October 23, 2001, features interviews with engineers and political and intelligence analysts and compares The Greenbrier and Mount Weather to Saddam Hussein's control bunker buried beneath Baghdad.

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

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