English Fire Brigade Union Says Government Consolidation Efforts are Misguided

The Fire Brigade Union (FBU) in England has accused the British government of presiding over a fire service technology project which is three years late and grossly over budget at a time when fire crews are lacking vital training and equipment, particularly to prepare them for floods such as they were called upon to respond to in 2007.

"This IT project is now very late, hugely over budget and has still not been subjected to operational testing," FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack said.

That IT project is part of FireControl, an ambitious project to reorganize British firefighters after several reports commissioned by the government indicated the need for it.
The current system in England consists of 46 stand alone fire control rooms. These are not networked and are unable to back each other up in the event of high demand or failure as they rely on different technologies and operational procedures, the government said in a post on the Department of Communities and Local Government Web site. Additionally, most control rooms do not have the technology to make sure the nearest fire appliance is sent to an incident. For example a fire engine may be close to an incident in a neighboring Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) boundary but may not be sent to the incident as the technology does not pick up its location. Around half of the current control rooms rely solely on voice communications. This means that one control room is unable to electronically share real time information about incidents with other control rooms.
Further, there is wide variation across control rooms in terms of functionality and the information available to fire control staff and firefighters, the government said.

Moving to regional control will ensure that each RCC is networked to the other eight centers and able to automatically back each other up in times of increased call pressure or failure. The buildings will be purpose built, modern facilities supported by advanced technology. Each RCC will have access to the same information and the ability to manage and deploy resources on a local, regional or national level. These elements combined, will enable control centers to deliver a more robust and responsive emergency service than the current arrangement of 46 stand-alone control rooms.
Technology Components
Caller identification location technology - the location a call is coming from will be identified automatically, screening hoax calls and saving valuable time.
Satellite positioning equipment - will monitor the whereabouts of each vehicle and the equipment it carries and tell the RCC whether it is the best resource for a particular incident.
Mobile data terminals - will be installed in cabs so firefighters have constantly updated information (including maps and hydrant locations).
Networked solution - the FiReControl network will make sure each RCC is able to provide automatic back-up if one region is too busy or unable to operate. The use of one common control system and procedures will enable FRSs to work together more effectively.
Accommodation - the RCC locations and the building designs adhere to strict security and resilience standards.

Union Opposition
However, the Fire Brigade Union opposes FireControl on several grounds including ballooning costs and missed deadlines, the need for flood-response training and more adequate equipment for responding to floods, the need to retain local knowledge of the areas in which incidents occur as vital to the response, as well as a lack of a statutory requirement that firefighters respond to floods that acts to limit the funding fire stations may be appropriated for flood response.

The costs of FireControl have climbed from an estimated 100 million pounds at the start to over 1.4 billion pounds as the project grew to include other items such as renting new purpose-built premises. The project will now result in the building rent costing twice as much as