First responders come together to protect the public during Super Bowl week

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - The Super Bowl LVII Emergency Operations Center has officially opened for business to keep everyone safe during this exciting week.

“In the fire department, automatic aid is a daily response,” said Glendale Fire Department Captain Ashley Losch. “We do it every single day. We are used to working with each other. This is just a bigger scale of that, including PD, public works, weather, everybody and all agencies that are involved are represented here.”

More than 40 federal, state, local, and tribal agencies have teamed up to respond to any and all emergencies during the week leading up to Super Bowl 57. Kevin Smith is with the FBI’s Phoenix division, and he said the division is working diligently to track potential threats and possible terrorist attacks. A whiteboard in the Operations Center shows every Super Bowl party from Monday through Sunday so officials know what’s happening every day, all the time.

“I can tell you that security during and around the Super Bowl and around the whole Valley is so great and robust that it would be difficult for somebody to do something,” said Smith. “And probably, it would be a bad idea.” Arizona’s Family was asked not to disclose the OPS center’s location for safety reasons.

Smith said there are no credible threats of any kind at this time, but everyone in the room knows that can change at any moment. “We would never want to be caught in a situation where, if God forbid something were to happen, that would involve multi casualties or injuries, that we are not prepared to respond,” said Phoenix Fire Captain Rob McDade. “We are prepared for anything to happen.”

First responders are urging anyone who sees something suspicious to report it immediately to 911.

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