Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp and Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services (HCEMS) Tuesday held the grand opening of the new HCEMS Administration & Training Center (ATC) that will serve as the agency’s new home base. Following unanimous approval by the County Commission, the county purchased the 16,400-square-foot building in July 2023, with HCEMS beginning its transition to the new facility earlier this year.

“Our county will be well-served now that the dedicated professionals at Hamilton County EMS have a modern facility where they can provide advanced life support training,” said Mayor Wamp. “The new Administration & Training Center will reinforce the reputation of HCEMS as the regional leader in emergency medical care.”

Shortly after its inception in 1988, HCEMS relocated from the basement of the county jail to a now nearly century-old building on Oak Street, where the department has been housed for more than three decades. The new facility is equipped with adequate space for training and features a state-of-the-art driving simulator, allowing paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) the opportunity to gain in-depth experience.

With the recent employee pay raise and addition of a seventeenth ambulance to the county’s fleet, a near fully-staffed HCEMS is set to build on its recent momentum at its new headquarters.

“It is very exciting to have this new facility where we can consolidate our administrative/operations offices and training center,” said HCEMS Director John Miller. “We now have enough space to conduct our emergency vehicle driving course on-site instead of having to search for a place large enough to hold the training. Our goal is to become a regional training center and offer training to services across East Tennessee, and we are grateful to the county for prioritizing this investment into our hard-working first responders.”

The new HCEMS Administration & Training Center is located at 3916 Volunteer Drive.