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Major milestone achieved in fire service rollout
Delivery of a new national communications system which will enhance the effectiveness of Great Britain’s fire and rescue services has reached a major milestone with 6,500 Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) vehicles now installed with new radio equipment.
This amounts to around nearly two thirds of the 8,440 vehicles used by FRS's around the country and is currently in use among 29 of these.
When fully rolled out, Airwave will be the new national communications service for the FRSs of England, Scotland and Wales. Known to the FRS as Firelink, it replaces an outdated system providing improved coverage, security, resilience and interoperability with other organisations such as the police and ambulance services which have also adopted Airwave.
John Lewis, head of Airwave’s fire and civil resilience division, said: “We’re currently installing Airwave in four vehicles in 16 FRSs every single day, a rate soon to be increased to four vehicles in 18 FRSs. For such rapid delivery, co-ordinating Airwave people, suppliers and customers is no mean feat, especially as it’s important to minimise the impact on fire service operations.”
Ashley Truluck, national project manager for Firelink, said: "This is a major landmark in the history of the project and the fact that we have managed to maintain vehicle rollout to schedule bears ample witness to the spirit of co-operation and partnership that exists between both the Firelink and Airwave teams, particularly at the local operational level.”
