Fire and Rescue Service pioneers new hi-tech radio equipment

Published	23 December 2008

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is the first FRS in Great Britain to complete installing new digital radio communications equipment - Firelink - helping to save lives.

Firelink will give the fire service the ability to communicate with police and ambulance command centres, vital when dealing with major incidents, as they will now be on the same radio network. The new equipment will provide the FRS with clearer voice communications than current systems.

The Firelink radio and communications system is part of the £1billion investment by Communities and Local Government to improve FRS capability to deal with all types of incident, including major emergencies such as industrial accidents, severe weather or terrorist activity.

Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said:

"Thanks to Government investment, for the first time, crews in Fire and Rescue Services vehicles will be able to communicate directly with the control and command centres of all fire services in Great Britain. Firelink also provides the FRS with the ability to communicate with police and ambulance command centres. This will help them all deal with any kind of emergency - industrial accident, severe weather or terrorist activity.

"With 100 vehicles now fitted with Firelink equipment, County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue is a pioneer in using the new digital radios in Great Britain.

"The new Firelink communications equipment means that when the new control centres are operational, it will be possible to effectively deploy the nearest available and suitable fire appliance or special rescue vehicle to an incident. This will result in greater resilience, information and incident support for firefighters, and a better service to the public - for both day to day and major incidents."

County Durham and Darlington's Chief Executive Susan Johnson, welcoming the completion of the fit out said:

"We are delighted to be the first Fire and Rescue Service to be fully equipped with this latest generation radio and communications system. This is another example of the excellent work undertaken by our team to deliver a major project ahead of schedule. The introduction of the new system will be of great benefit to all Fire and Rescue Services both now and in the future."

The new Firelink system has already been installed in England's current FRS control rooms, and will become operational as equipment is installed in each service's vehicles. Its operation will transfer to the new FireControl national network of linked regional control centres by 2012.

Notes to editors

Eight things you didn't know about the new hi-tech Firelink radio system

1. County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is the first in the scheduled roll-out in England, and within Great Britain, to be linked into the national Firelink Airwave network.

2. County Durham and Darlington FRS has had 100 vehicles fitted with the Firelink equipment ranging from cars and support vehicles to fire engines and special rescue vehicles.

3. Technology installed in the fire appliances includes the very latest digital radios and mountings for computer equipment that will eventually display geographical maps and site information to assist emergency response crews to carry out their duties effectively and safely.

4. County Durham and Darlington will also be one of the first Fire and Rescue Services to cutover to the new regional control centres when the North East centre becomes fully operational in 2010.

5. Firelink is being rolled out across all FRS in England, Scotland and Wales.

6. The Police and Ambulance Services are already using the Airwave service for their communications.

7. Firelink will provide the communications system that will enable the new regional FireControl centres to track, monitor and mobilise all Fire and Rescue vehicles. This will enable the nearest available and appropriate fire appliance or special rescue vehicle to be sent to an incident and provide up to date information for commanders.

8. It will also provide the Fire and Rescue Service incident commander with the ability to communicate effectively with other emergency services for the duration of an incident.

For more information on County Durham and Darlington FRS please contact:
Marc Brackenbury Communications Manager on tel: 0191 3324249 or 07766 78531.

For information on the Government's investment in FRS resilience please contact Communities press office.