Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center
The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a government command facility in the U.S. Commonwealth of 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".
| Mount Weather | |
|---|---|
| State Route 601, Loudoun–Clarke counties, near Bluemont, Virginia, U.S. | |
Mount Weather, with the Shenandoah Valley in the background | |
Mount Weather Location in the United States Mount Weather Location in Virginia | |
| Type | FEMA command center, permanent Executive Branch substitute |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | U.S. Department of Homeland Security |
| Status | In service |
| Site history | |
| Built | Unknown |
| In use | 1959–present |
The facility is a major relocation site for the highest level of civilian and military officials in case of national disaster, playing a major role in continuity of government (per the U.S. Continuity of Operations Plan).
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. FNARS allows the president to access the Emergency Alert System.
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.