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Third of all fire appliances now fitted with Firelink radios
The task of fitting all fire appliances in England with the new digital Firelink radios is well underway with 3,000 vehicles, one third of all the fire appliances in England, now fitted.
Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said: "Firelink is being installed at a pace. With nearly 3,000 vehicles now fitted with Firelink radios installation is progressing well and the feedback we are receiving demonstrates that the new equipment is already benefiting firefighters.
"Now, for the first time, Fire and Rescue Services vehicles will be able to communicate directly with the control and command centres of all fire services in Great Britain. This will help them deal with any kind of emergency - industrial accident, severe weather or terrorist activity. It also provides communications interoperability at command level with police and ambulance services.
"The new Firelink communications equipment means that when the new control centres are operational, it will be possible to more 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."
The Firelink radio system is part of a £1billion investment by Communities and Local Government to improve FRS capability to deal with all types of incident, including major emergencies. The new Firelink system has already been installed in England's FRS current control rooms, and will become operational as equipment is installed in vehicles. Its operation will transfer to the new FireControl national network of linked regional control centres by 2012.
Nearly 9,000 fire appliances will be fitted in England. Both Scotland (over 1,200 appliances) and Wales (over 660 appliances) will also be on the same network.
Technology installed in the fire appliances includes the 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.Firelink is being rolled out across all FRS in England, Scotland and Wales. The Police and Ambulance Services are already using the Airwave service for their communications.
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.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
The Fourteen Fire and Rescue Services have now had their fire appliances fitted are:
Avon;
Cambridgeshire;
Cleveland,
County Durham and Darlington;
Derbyshire;
Devon and Somerset;
Isle of Wight;
Lincolnshire;
North Yorkshire;
Northumberland;
South Yorkshire;
Staffordshire;
Tyne and Wear;
Warwickshire;.
With installations nearly complete in two more, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
