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West Yorkshire Fire Service Brigade Control (MACC)

© Subterranea Britannica 1998 - 2007

1964- Brigade Control came under the control of the former West Riding County Council. The then Brigade Control was in the basement of the present Control at Fire service Headquarters

Photo: The 'Ops' Room

1972- In April this year The Brigade Control complex was subject to structural alterations and the control room moved upstairs, and still remained under the control of the WRCC. The County Borough Brigades Huddersfield,Dewsbury,Bradford and Leeds still used the station watch room model. The West Riding control covered a much wider area reaching from Todmorden to Kiverton and Sedburgh in North Yorkshire

1974- In April the resources of the West Riding and the County Borough brigades were amalgamated to form the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade.All calls were now handled by the Brigade control at Birkenshaw

1987- In April of this year the Control is refurbished and and uses it's first computerised system(Above)

1994- The Brigade Control is renamed The Mobilising and Communications Centre (MACC)

1999- In June this year MACC is once more returned to the basement whilst building work is undertaken.

2000- In February The purpose built control suite with it's new state of the art mobilising computer and radio system is opened and remains today. The above image shows the dedicated radio position where all radio transmissions are handled.

Thanks to Mark Thompson and Blue Watch at MACC

FiReControl RCCs

FiReControl is a project working to move 46 fire control rooms, to nine new Regional Control Centres (RCCs).

Yorkshire and Humberside

Paragon Business Village, Wakefield, Just off the M1 at Junction 41 at Wakefield

The FiRe Control project – the move to regional centres – is the result of an independent review of control rooms by Mott MacDonald which concluded that current arrangements are costly and inefficient. The Government published this report in December 2003 and consulted widely on its recommendations. The project forms part of the National Framework for the Fire and Rescue Service which sets the objectives the Government expects the service to achieve. Copies of the framework and the Mott MacDonald report are available on the ODPM website. The new centres will be the result of over a year of intensive research and planning.Every part of the buildings has been designed to meet fire control needs and to provide staff with a high quality, secure and attractive place to work. The buildings will fit in with their local surroundings and meet or exceed environmental standards. They will be at the forefront of architectural design, exceeding many current health and safety, disability access and fire safety requirements.Control staff from around the country, at all levels, have contributed to the design process by making it clear what is important to them. As a result, the centres will be places which support control staff in delivering an excellent service to the public.

Artist's impression of the new Regional Control Centre for Yorkshire and Humberside
Illustration: Yorkcourt Properties

The centre – is expected to go live in 2008 / 2009 and will replace the four existing 999 fire control rooms in
West, South, North Yorkshire and Humberside.

Whilst the government are aware that existing control rooms do a great job, they believe that they are not designed to deal with major regional or national incidents. They are not networked, and there are a variety of procedures, technologies and systems in use – some more modern than others. The existing fire control rooms will be replaced with a resilient network of Regional Control Centres, capable of delivering an effective response to local, regional and national incidents. They will have guaranteed telecommunications and power supplies, and effective fall back arrangements, should one centre be out of action.

To Revisit in a few weeks to see progress