Fairhope is building its first dedicated hurricane safe room, a $1.9 million facility designed to give police officers, firefighters and other essential city workers a secure place to ride out a major storm while they continue serving the community.
The 4,000-square-foot structure, under construction on Pecan Avenue, is engineered to withstand wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour. Once complete, it will be able to shelter more than 70 first responders, including local police, fire, public works and utility personnel, as well as responders from neighboring agencies who may need a safe place to stage during a storm.
City officials say the project fills a gap that has long left first responders without a certified place to shelter during hurricanes and other high-wind events. “We have no certified housing to keep our people in, in the city, to ride out a high-wind event such as a hurricane,” Fairhope City Engineer Richard Johnson told the City Council.
A Lesson From Hurricane Sally
City leaders point to Hurricane Sally, which struck the Gulf Coast in 2020, as a clear example of why a facility like this is needed. The storm underscored how difficult it can be to keep emergency personnel sheltered and ready to respond when a hurricane makes landfall near Mobile Bay.
Beyond serving as a shelter, the safe room is also expected to improve the city’s ability to prepare for major storms before they arrive. “This would also give us the ability, in the event that we knew we were going to have a catastrophic event, to go ahead and stage utility crews and then have them ready to go in the event of a storm,” Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan said.
Funded Through a FEMA Grant
Construction is being funded in large part through a hazard mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of a broader federal effort to help coastal communities like Fairhope reduce the impact of natural disasters. Hazard mitigation grants typically require a mix of federal and local funding and are aimed at projects that reduce future storm-related losses, such as reinforced shelters and infrastructure upgrades.
City officials say they expect the Pecan Avenue safe room to be finished before the start of next year’s hurricane season, giving Fairhope’s emergency crews a reinforced home base the next time a major storm threatens Baldwin County and the greater Mobile Bay area.