Brigade Control and RCC's

Unnecessary Trauma for 999 Control Operators

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The New Regional Fire Control Centre in Wakefield

Union bosses say staff at Bradford's fire control centre are being put through unnecessary trauma as uncertainty mounts over plans to radically change the way 999 calls are handled.Plans to set up a regional fire control centre in Wakefield to replace four control centres across Yorkshire have been put on hold for another nine months, meaning the plan is now five years behind schedule.Ministers have planned a linked national network of nine regional FireControl centres across England. Under the plan, 46 stand-alone control rooms would be axed, including the one in Bradford Road, Birkenshaw, which handles calls from across West Yorkshire.Project bosses originally expected the state-of-the-art Wakefield replacement to open in 2007 but the opening date had already been put back to October 2011 and has now been delayed again until July 2012.The Government said the delays were due to technical problems with developing the IT system. Ian Watkins, regional chairman of the Fire Brigades Union in Yorkshire, said: We are concerned that the Government is lavishing money on a white elephant project when front-line fire services are being starved of cash.Within the region, we have got four fire control centres that give the taxpaying public a superb service and value for money.Mr Watkins said he had visited the new building in Wakefield and said it was costing a fortune in rent and heating despite the fact it was standing empty. He said the delays would leave the Government paying another 15 million in rents to keep all the new regional control centres empty for longer.He said the proposed reorganisation had been hanging over staff at the Birkenshaw control room since 2004 These people provide a superb service and to put them through this kind of unnecessary trauma is disgraceful,he said.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.Mr Malik said: We remain committed to meeting all the up-front costs associated with the project and to the principle that no Fire and Rescue Authority will bear any additional cost as a result of FireControl implementation. The FBU said that, in 2005, the Government had promised a state-of-the-art control system would be in place by 2007 and originally estimated the cost at 100 million. The last business case put the costs at 1.4 billion.More than 55 million of taxpayers money has been spent on consultants working on plans to create the regional fire centres which could have paid for 300 new appliances, critics say.

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.

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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.

Revisit see progress Soon

NEWS RELEASE
CENTRE DIRECTOR APPOINTED
Graeme Hall has been appointed as director of the regional control centre which will handle 999 fire calls across West, South, North Yorkshire and Humberside from January 2011. The centre, under the final stages of construction at Wakefield’s Paragon Business Village, is due to replace the four individual control centres in Birkenshaw, Sheffield, Northallerton and Hull. Mr. Hall, who is Head of Customer Services at Damart Ltd., has worked for over 10 years in the contact centre industry, mainly in the financial services and retail sectors. He has had experience of delivering large-scale organisational change including a number of business start-ups. Councillor Mick Coulson, who leads the shadow public sector company which will run the new regional control centre (RCC), said that Mr. Hall was an excellent manager who recognised the challenges and opportunities presented by a unique technological venture. “The Government is investing £350m. to create a nationally linked network of nine fire control centres across England to improve resilience and efficiency but no one under-estimates the complexity or sensitivity of the task,” explained Councillor Coulson. “There are currently 46 stand-alone controls but they are unable to back each other up in the event of high demand or systems failure as they rely on different technologies and operational procedures.” The Yorkshire and Humberside centre will be one of the last to ‘go live.’

Firelink Radio scheme on trial now in West Yorkshire, with 5 pumps having been fitted with the radio equipment for evaluation testing

Fire Control centres are hit by spiralling cost's

The Yorkshire and Humberside, regional control centre in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, will replace four existing control rooms, North, West, South Yorkshire and Humberside - at an additional cost of £1,172,000 a year. The figures contrast with original hopes that the centres would be able to make savings from day one. Ian Murray, FBU chairman for Yorkshire and Humberside, said: "The original projected costs for the regional control centres were astronomical - they are now going through the roof. "And they are spending more in consultants’ fees than it takes to run the control rooms for a year. "This money should be spent on frontline services." A spokesman for the Government’s Communities and Local Government department, which is behind the changes, said: "Where there are regions that make a loss for the first three years that will be covered by a resilience payment." The Yorkshire control room is due to take its first calls in January 2011.

News Update on FIReControl

The Government has announced a timetable reschedule for cut over to all Regional Control Centres (RCCs). The Yorkshire and Humberside RCC, which was due to go live in January 2011, is likely to be put back by around five months. The first three RCCs - in the North East, East Midlands and South West - will come on stream in summer 2010, nine months later than expected. Fire Services Minister, Sadiq Khan, has stated that the Government ‘remains strongly committed’ to FiReControl, and has released part two of the national business for consultation. For information on the business case and media enquires go to: http://www.communities.gov.uk /fire/resilienceresponse/firecontrol/businesscase or contact:
Communities & Local Government (CLG) Press Office: Doreen Melville-Riddell - 020 7944 6359 (doreen.melville-riddell@communities.gsi.gov.uk). The CLG Duty Press Officer out of office hours telephone number is 020 7944 5945.