Emergency control centre plan comes under fire

Feb 3 2010 by William Green, The Journal

That building was completed in 2007 and the plan was to go live in October last year. But the country’s first new control centre will not go live until spring next year, with the last switch-over by the end of 2012.

Steve Watson, chairman of the North East FBU branch, said: “This project is now massively over-budget and over time and diverting really scarce resources from the fire and rescue service at a time when fire services are having to make cuts.”

He claimed the project would not make any fire engine arrive any quicker to an emergency and that the regional network could crumble during major incidents such as flooding.

“That means you would have emergency call queued,” said Mr Watson, who also claimed the scheme was designed to save money, but would cost more. Alan Robson, from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue, said the region was committed to a regional centre, but acknowledged “risks” centred on technology delays.

He said: “If we get progress on those concerns, we should be able to continue with the project plan as it is set out.”

Mr Robson, area manager with responsibility for the regional control centre, added that the Government would cover additional project costs, while agreements were in place to maintain existing control room cover and stressed there would be no impact on current “excellent” services.