$10 million state funding boost advances CORE3, Redmond’s regional disaster response, training hub
Jillian Fortner
(update: adding comments from CORE3, Deschutes County Commissioners)
REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Oregon Legislature has approved $10 million to help advance the long-planned CORE3 training and response center in Redmond.
The project aims to build an emergency coordination hub and public safety training campus next to the Redmond Airport.
CORE3 is currently in Phase 1, and with the new funding, construction can begin on roads, access points, and other critical infrastructure.
So far, the project has secured $22 million in state and federal funding.
The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners also contributed 300 acres of land, valued at around $13 million.
“Right now, it is really just rocks and juniper. It’s the location of the old (Redmond) Rod and Gun Club,” said county Commissioner Tony DeBone.
The center will provide support for local and state emergencies, including wildfires, earthquakes, floods and pandemics.
“Wildfires are not going away. We see it now and it’s predicted into the future to occur,” said Shelby Knight, a resilience planner with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council. “I’ll say, at the state level, we’re really talking about the Cascadia Subduction Zone event or a major statewide disaster.”
The Cascadia Subduction Zone poses one of the greatest natural disaster risks in the Pacific Northwest, with the potential to trigger a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Central Oregon is considered a secure and strategic location to coordinate emergency response if the state’s coastal areas and the western valleys are impacted.
DeBone said, “Since we’re out of that perimeter of a Cascadia event, this is kind of like the beginning of a support system. What would happen right here? Redmond Airport could be brought in, federal resources to the airport real fast. The fairgrounds is available for mass care for people. A lot of people need to be somewhere? Put them at the fairgrounds.”
The project is still short about $15 million to fully meet its $50 million funding target.
Knight said, “We’re also continuing to explore a variety of other funding sources and opportunities to build the facility.”