Gearing up for anticipated heavy traffic at the new Snoqualmie Casino, a group of Valley, state and county agencies will fire up the Emergency Operations Center at Snoqualmie Fire Station on opening night, Thursday, Nov. 6.

Snoqualmie police and fire departments join Washington State Patrol, King County Sheriff’s Department, the Washington state and King County departments of transportation, Snoqualmie Tribal police and a casino representative as a unified command to handle the heavy volume. The group will handle the phones, backed up by amateur radio enthusiasts, from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. State Patrol is expected to have personnel on the roads in the vicinity of the casino.

“We’re here to command any sort of issues that might rise up,” Snoqualmie Fire Chief Bob Rowe said. While the prediction is for major traffic, Rowe said the group won’t know if there will be any problems until the time comes.

“But we want to prepare for the worst,” he said. “So why not have everybody here?” The varied agencies have been meeting and planning for the opener for several weeks.

“We’re pretty much ready to handle just about anything,” Rowe said. “Everything’s been predicted and planned.

“Hopefully, it’ll be like Y2K, a non-event,” he added. “But we’re prepared, just in case.”