"Hope is not a plan, and failure is not an option," Glenn M. Cannon, PEMA director

Representatives from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and other officials from Harrisburg joined local emergency management officials at the dedication of a new building for the Eastern Area Office in Hamburg.

The building will be headquarters for 20 counties from Philadelphia to Susquehanna County, and joins Central and Western district offices to provide emergency help across the state.

The building has an operations center filled with computers and phones and screens allowing everyone to see what is going on at the same time.

Greg Doyle, emergency management specialist and doorkeeper for the dedication, said otherwise dealing with an emergency is like "whisper down the line," which changes meaning as people pass on what they think they hear but not what was really said.

On the perimeter of the building are offices. In the lobby is a Year of History in Nature, showing serious emergencies over the past years.

Most of the work is done in the county.

In case of an emergency the operations center can be opened.

PEMA Chief Deputy Director Robert Full welcomed team members and family.

The building was many years in the planning and construction, he said.

"Emergency management is all about teamwork, local, federal, and state," Full said. "It takes great leadership to do what we do.

"Two years ago Glenn Cannon [of Emergency Management and Homeland Security ] recognized the importance of the Emergency Management Agency. He took an agency that had been fiddled away and made this."

Cannon said since 1970 the agency lived underground with no windows.

"This is the first time we had windows," Cannon said. "This is the Eastern Area Office where we will respond when bad things happen. We try to make them better through mitigation."

Money was appropriated in 2006 but it languished until November 2011, he explained.

Gov. Tom Corbett is a great supporter of public safety, Cannon said. Sixteen months later we moved in.

The money allocated in 2006 would not pay for as much in 2011.

Several of the speakers mentioned the structure, at 3566 Old Route 22, is a plain cinder block building and not a Taj Mahal.

Staff members were introduced.

Of special note was Dan Searforce, who was instrumental in building construction, and Tim Wilhelm of the Hamburg Center, who was always there to help.

He identified a tree near the parking lot that was in danger of falling. The Hamburg Center also houses an Intermediate Unit and a hospital.

Cannon introduced Gov. Corbett by saying that the two of them have worked together for public safety.

"If you wait till something happens, you're lost," he said.

Corbett thanked the volunteers and first responders. He said the room was as full as it will ever get.

"We get it right because we are preparing for tornadoes, hurricanes and ice storms," Corbett said. "All of those things affect the eastern part of the state."

He told the staff they had saved lives and even helped the pets.

There have been more declarations of emergencies in two years than in the previous eight, he explained..

"The staff in PEMA's Eastern Area Office has been incredibly busy in responding to Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Sandy," Corbett said. "They are a vital link between county government and the state in emergency response and recovery in Pennsylvania.

"People expect us to help and without money. As first responders you are state police, EMTs, firefighters and PEMA.

"You are to be congratulated for what you do. I'm glad we can dedicate this building."

Corbett and Cannon wielded the golden scissors that cut the ribbon formally opening the building.

"Leaning forward" is a term meaning catching a problem before it becomes serious and the agency believes in it. Full said most of the people in the building are out on the street helping local agencies.

"I want to thank all the PEMA employees. We are coming into spring with its hurricanes and tornadoes," said Full, adding an invitation for cake, chips and pretzels in the adjoining conference room.