Dome Shelter Planned for Mobile Home Park

Two years ago, we announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision to help fund construction of Monolithic Dome tornado shelters in two Ohio mobile home parks. Together, the two domes in Licking County are providing a safe haven for nearly 500 people when severe weather strikes.

Now another Ohio county has announced plans to follow suit. Fairfield County, which has also had its share of severe storms over the years, is looking to build a Monolithic Dome tornado shelter near the Colonial Estes mobile home park.

“We’re really concentrating there,” Emergency Management Agency Director Jon Kochis told the Lancaster Eagle Gazette “But we’d like to open up to any type of residential community where the structures may not have basements or may not be sturdy enough for strong storms.”

In the case of Licking County, FEMA funded 75 percent of the cost of the two structures as part of a $775,000 pre-disaster mitigation grant it provided to Licking County Commissioners. The owners of the manufactured home communities funded the other 25 percent of the construction costs.

Kochis also is working to secure federal money for its planned project. “Any funding possibilities we could come up with to make this work would be a good thing,” he said. “Once we have our local match, we’ll put our project together and send it to the state. They review it, then send it to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to review and we get the OK to build. It’s a pretty easy process once we get everything lined up.”

Anyone interested in learning more about these Monolithic shelters can call Kochis at
(740) 654-4357.