The Alabama-based center that will house coronavirus patients provides advanced training to first responders and is equipped with the nation’s only hospital facility used to prepare health care workers for disaster response.

Here is AL.com’s complete coverage of the plan to bring coronavirus patients to Alabama

Here’s what you need to know about the Anniston-based CDP:

What is the Center for Domestic Preparedness?

The 176-acre Center for Domestic Preparedness is located in Anniston at the former site of Fort McClellan, once home to the U.S. Army’s Chemical Defense Training Facility. It is about 60 miles east of Birmingham and 90 miles west of Atlanta.

The CDP opened in 1998, originally under the management of the Department of Justice. It is now managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

CDP trains first responders from around the country at its Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological Training Facility as well as Noble Training Facility. According to FEMA, Noble is the only hospital facility in the U.S. dedicated to solely training health care professionals in disaster preparedness and response. It is equipped with exercise and simulation areas, emergency operations center and emergency department, as well as a clinical and isolation ward used for training.

CDP trains about 50,000 first responders each year.

Housing coronavirus evacuees

The plan announced Saturday by the Department of Health and Human Services includes housing American passengers evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the Anniston facility.

Some 300 Americans were evacuated from the cruise ship as it docked in Japan amid a coronavirus outbreak onboard. More than 3,700 passengers on board the ship were quarantined after testing positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Two passengers died.

According to FEMA, the passengers who will stay at the CDP tested positive for COVID-19 although, at this time, either they do not have symptoms or have a mild flu-like illness. The Department of Defense has set aside military bases in California, Colorado and Texas to house evacuees during a 14-day quarantine.

An unknown number of patients are expected to be transported to the Alabama facility next week and will stay in the existing dorms that are typically used to house first responders in the residential training program.

Photos online show a hotel-like setting with private rooms and a shared bath.

Federal officials told the Anniston Star housing the evacuees in a CDP dorm will keep hospital beds open for people who need them, such as those hospitalized with a severe case of the flu. The evacuees will be kept apart from those training at the facility and will remain there until they are medically cleared.

Federal officials said the CDP will provide housing for evacuees while Health and Human Services will provide medical care and support services for evacuees. They will be transported to CDP via a small plane flying into Anniston and travel via a federal vehicle. The planes and vehicles will then be sanitized, officials said.

In the event an evacuee becomes seriously ill, they will be transported to “pre-identified hospitals” for medical care, federal officials said. However, Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency said officials have not shared a plan related to transporting patients to a hospital.

CDP tapped by federal government in the past

In 2014, the federal government announced plans to house hundreds of young undocumented immigrants at the Anniston facility.

The plan, opposed by Congressman Mike Rogers, whose district includes Anniston, was eventually canceled.

“The CDP is a world class first responder training facility; however, it was in no way built to house immigration detainees, much less children,” Rogers said at the time.