Bristol fire control centre changes put on hold
Changes to the way 999 fire calls are dealt with in Bristol have been put on hold for a further 12 months because of "technical problems".
The Government wants a linked network of nine regional fire control centres across England to replace the current 46 stand-alone control rooms.
Under the plans, first developed in 2004, Bristol's fire control centre will close and all calls will go through a new super centre in Taunton, covering the entire South West.
It was expected that calls from Bristol would be transferred to the new base by November 2010.
However, the Government has said that due to "technical problems with developing the IT system" calls will not now be transferred until November 2011.
It is the latest in a series of delays for the FireControl project, which is not now expected to be completed until the end of 2012 – five years behind schedule.
The Government believes smaller control centres can no longer cope with modern emergencies on the scale of the London terror bombings of 2005.
But the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the delays to the £1.4 billion project would push up "already spiralling costs even further".
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: "It is years late and massively over budget with no completion date in sight. To top it all, they can't get the system to work properly."
Communities minister Shahid Malik said FireControl would provide "very substantial safety benefits" by establishing a linked network of control centres for the first time.
Dealing with terrorism, large-scale industrial accidents and flooding would all be easier with the new network, he said.
But the delays mean the full network of nine control centres will not now be in place before the 2012 London Olympics.
Comments
by John, Bristol
Tuesday, July 21 2009, 1:29PM
“Communities minister Shahid Malik said FireControl would provide "very substantial safety benefits" by establishing a linked network of control centres for the first time.
That's the official line from a person who does not have to deal with emergency calls on a day to day basis.
When the Police opened its' new headquarters in Portishead it closed down two control rooms, one at Staple Hill covering South Gloucestershire and Bath and one in New Bridewell that covered the Centre, South of the river, East Bristol and North Bristol.
The A&S retained the one in Taunton for the sake of technical redundancy and the difficulties in moving staff to Portishead.
All in the name of efficiency and joined up operations.
Local knowledge was a skill that was not deemed as required given all the 'modern' aids that were/are applicable. The result is, not quite, chaos as operators try to find out where incidents are taking place often having to rely on the dwindling few who still possess local knowledge.
To me, the names of night clubs on Park Street are as alien as the suburbs of Mumbai. Likewise, being told the local name for a pub in Knowle is the same as telling me it's on the Moons of Jupiter, none of it means nothing to me yet management are of the opinion that technology can make up for not having local knowledge.
Centralisation is only as good as the staff that man it. It may save money in the short term but will lead to inefficiency in the long term.
There can be no substitute for local knowledge and that goes for the Fire Service, the Ambulance Service and the Police.
As for having a 'linked network'. This can still be achieved in this day and age with the technology available without having large centralised Control Rooms.
A single question to demonstrate my point:
Where would I be if I said I was at the Cabot?”