While FEMA Falters, Resilient Communities Rely on the Monolithic Dome
The Walnut Township fire department used its ladder truck to fly Old Glory above the Fairfield Beach Tornado Shelter during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Bill Yates (center with white shirt) stands with municipal, state, and county officials in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Walnut Township’s safe room on April 22, 2025.
As a former fire chief, Bill Yates has witnessed his share of buildings and lives destroyed by fire and natural disasters. Today, as a Walnut Township Trustee, Yates is cutting the ribbon to a storm shelter built to protect area residents. “It’s nice to do something proactive,” he said, “I supported this in a heartbeat.”
Fairfield Beach, Ohio, is a small community on the south shore of Buckyeye Lake in Walnut Township—about a half hour east of Columbus. It’s home to permanent residents, summer citizens, and weekend lake visitors.
With the lake nearby, basements and other below-grade shelters are not possible. Local officials decided they needed someplace safe for their community.
The free-span interior of the dome creates a space that can be used for community celebrations as well as a disaster shelter. The same space could be easily adapted to function as a disaster recovery hub. Furthermore, local health officials could use the facility for blood drives, 12-step meetings and public health screenings.
[Left] The Red, White and Blue of the American Flag presided over the day’s festivities. [Center] Storm rated steel doors—capable of withstanding flying debris—will open automatically during a tornado watch allowing residents to seek safety inside. [Right] The furriest community member at the Fairfield Beach Tornado Shelter ribbon-cutting ceremony: Nala the therapy dog—an official deputy of Walnut Township.
The newly completed Fairfield Beach Tornado Shelter opened its doors to the public on April 22, 2025, under a star-spangled banner held aloft by the fire department’s new ladder truck. The Monolithic Dome is a 75-foot diameter by 26-foot tall ellipsoid encompassing 4,417 square feet. Reinforced cages protect the HVAC and emergency generator equipment outside. The entrances are reinforced steel doors rated to withstand flying debris. Automated features are integrated into the local emergency system so when the nearby tornado sirens sound, the doors unlock.
State, county and local officials were on hand to give brief speeches, shake hands, and visit with over 60 people who came to the open house—with more coming to tour the dome as the day progressed. Even Nala, a fluffy white service dog, was there to greet people. While eating the tasty refreshments, people would ask: When should we head to the shelter in a storm? Can we meet here for other events? Are pets allowed?
The clean, open interior includes two restrooms, storages, and enough space to protect 773 in an emergency—or host over 300 at community events. Organizations can apply with the township for permission to use the facility. Several non-profits are already starting to hold regular meetings inside.
Summit Ridge Mobile Home Park’s Monolithic Dome tornado shelter in Central Ohio.
More Area Storm Shelters
Meanwhile, 40 minutes north at the Summit Ridge Mobile Home Park, another meeting is just finishing in a smaller Monolithic Dome tornado shelter. People are clearing up snacks, folding tables, putting away chairs, and cleaning the kitchen. This shelter is smaller than Fairfield Beach’s, but functions in much the same way. When not used as a safe room, it’s used for meetings, community activities, and family gatherings. The dome was built at the entrance to the community and includes restrooms and a functional kitchen.
[Left] The interior of the Summit Ridge Mobile Home Park’s dome tornado shelter includes restrooms, storage, a piano, tables, chairs, kitchen, and even a movie screen. [Center] Solid steel storm doors are rated to withstand flying debris resulting from a tornado at Summit Ridge. [Right] The kitchen in Summit Ridge’s tornado shelter. The Monolithic Dome provides a safe haven for members of the mobile home park community during a tornado. The rest of the time, it serves as a clubhouse or event room.
Wooden dormers create inviting entrances, but make no mistake, this is a tough building with storm doors embedded into the concrete shell. One meeting attendee says he lives in a nearby mobile home park and wishes there were a Monolithic Dome tornado shelter where he lives. He has no where to run when the sirens blare.
The unassuming Monolithic Dome in the Wilkins Mobile Home Park in Central Ohio is the community’s tornado shelter.
This isn’t a problem for Brian who lives in the nearby Wilkins Mobile Home Park behind a third Monolithic Dome Safe Room east of Summit Ridge. “We’ve used our shelter three times already this year,” he said. “There are a half-dozen keys spread around the residents. When it’s stormy, someone has to come open the door.”
He said the door is quite heavy and you need someone pretty big to open it, “The place is built like an effing tank!”
The Monolithic Dome tornado shelter at Delaware State Park, 60 minutes north of Columbus, Ohio. The doors unlock automatically when the tornado sirens sound and up to 856 people can shelter inside.
Nestled among the trees near Delaware Lake—about an hour north of Columbus—is another Monolithic Dome Safe Room. This one is the largest of the four at 83-feet diameter by 28-feet tall, it serves the residents in the area plus all the campers at the Delaware State Park. Up to 856 people can shelter inside during severe weather.
Like Fairfield Beach, this dome has a reinforced emergency generator and HVAC because the purpose of these shelters goes beyond safety during the storm. It’s also a place to set up emergency services after the storm passes.
These safe structures are more than a place of refuge, they become part of the community. Fairfield Beach constructed their dome near a handicap accessible park—complete with wheelchair paths and lots of open fields to play in.
[Left] HVAC and emergency generator equipment are housed in reinforced steel cages outside Central Ohio’s newest Monolithic Dome in Walnut Township. [Right] The Fairfield Beach Tornado Shelter features an integrated emergency generator that turns on automatically when the power fails.
Prepare Before the Storm
The time to prepare is before an emergency. When the sirens sound, it’s too late. These safe buildings can save lives, but only if they exist. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognized this and has been helping communities fund structures like these for over 20 years. FEMA officials worked with state agencies like the Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) and local municipalities and organizations to construct and manage safe shelters.
“We received approval in August 2019,” Yates said during the Fairfield Beach open house. “Everything changed when COVID hit—putting the project in doubt—but the state EMA kept saying to move ahead.”
Attendees begin gathering for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new tornado shelter.
Yates said they originally planned on a larger structure, but are still happy with the finished building. The state and local municipalities have already paid for the building. It was supposed to be funded by 12.5 percent local, 12.5 percent state, and 75 percent federal funds, but at the time of the open house, they haven’t received the promised FEMA reimbursement.
FEMA appears to be in upheaval with similar programs canceled, leadership turnover, and staff reductions.
But changing FEMA—for better or worse—doesn’t remove the need for safe shelter. Yates said there were seven tornadoes in Ohio in 2024—which is an increase from years past. He believes that the affects of climate change are increasing in the heart of Tornado Alley and Ohio will likely see more storms, more often, in the future.
The interior of the new dome tornado shelter in Walnut Township is 75 feet across and 26 feet tall. Over 770 people can take refuge inside during a storm or 300 can meet inside for meetings or activities.
Two Affordable Buildings in One
Thirty years ago, it was an accepted truth that you can either build affordably or safe, but not both. The cost of reinforcing a traditional structure to be a storm shelter is prohibitive. But this isn’t true with the Monolithic Dome.
Before the FEMA grant programs began subsidizing the cost of constructing Monolithic Dome safe rooms, school districts, churches, municipalities, and home owners opted for the Monolithic Dome because they are affordable, beautiful, energy efficient, and safe. Whole schools are constructed in areas far outside Tornado Alley for all these reasons.
Plus, Monolithic Dome municipal, sports, and educational facilities will pay for themselves in energy savings of 50 percent or better compared to traditional structures.
You can build a Monolithic Dome gymnasium, school, courthouse or home for the same price as a traditional structure, but you get the storm shelter—for free. It’s two buildings in one. And the energy savings will pay for the building over time. Plus, with these structures used regularly for a “day job,” it means they are always ready for emergencies when the need arises.
Fairfield Beach is on the south shore of Buckeye Lake in Ohio. It’s picturesque country at the border of the beautiful rolling hills to the north and the plains to the south.
The simple profile of the 4400 square foot tornado shelter at Walnut Township belies its strength. Monolithic Domes are not a new technology. They have proven again and again to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes, fires and earthquakes.