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Blue Light Service Goes Green
Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service (GFRS) has increased its use and investment in satellite technology with the installation of a satellite trailer from Primetech (UK) Ltd. This adds to the existing Command Unit installation, and gives GFRS greater flexibility in deploying their satellite connectivity. The unit is based around a small box-type trailer which had previously been used for Community Fire Safety work. The trailer had become surplus to CFS requirements, and made an ideal platform for a mobile unit. GFRS also had a spare, dormant satellite system that had been installed on their Command Unit but had been removed two years previously and kept in storage.
Primetech provided a full end -to-end solution by collecting the trailer, fitting a bespoke aluminium roof, reconditioning the motorised antenna, installing the satellite system, installing a power and data network inside and returning the working product to GFRS.
This was done within a week, and the trailer’s first deployment came at the Cheltenham Festival a week later. There it provided the Silver Commander Officer with a secure link back to Fire Service HQ, allowing him to continue with his daily work as well as providing operational information if required for an incident at the festival.
Powering the trailer is a commercial inverter and leisure battery making it silent in operation, and it also takes mains input from either a generator or standard mains electricity. Primetech are also installing a hydrogen fuel cell to allow the trailer to run unattended and silently for a week without access to mains power.
GFRS are keen to use green alternatives to fossil fuels where possible, and the hydrogen fuel cell generates only small amounts of pure water in operation as opposed to the noise and CO2 associated with a generator.
The trailer will be used by GFRS in four main ways.
1. As an alternative to the Command Unit where physical space or type of incident does not allow a full attendance. This has been the case at the Cheltenham Festival where space is at a premium.
2. As a backup to the Command Unit in the unlikely event of it’s equipment failing. The trailer can easily be parked alongside the Command Unit and satellite connectivity extended into it, or any other vehicle or building for that matter.
3. As a backup mobilising platform should conventional methods fail. GFRS have proven that their Remsdaq mobilising system will work over satellite, and the trailer allows them to mobilise a fire station should it lose it’s normal leased line and other mobilising capacity.
4. In a broad role the trailer will be wherever it’s deployment is deemed beneficial. This will range from providing assistance to other organisations that work closely with GFRS, or providing Internet connectivity for events where CFS work is being undertaken.
Commenting on the installation, Mr R Lacey, ICT Manager at GFRS said, “The Service are very pleased with the work that Primetech have done. We’ve gone from having old equipment in the storeroom and a surplus trailer, to having full connectivity from one of Gloucestershire’s largest events, and all in less than a fortnight. We can deliver the system with a car, at minimum staff cost, and give our operational managers a facility that they’ve not had before. At the Cheltenham Festival it sat there for five days doing it’s work quietly without intervention. I can see that this will be a very popular and well-used piece of equipment”
GFRS Silver Commander Officer at the Cheltenham Festival, Group Manager, Clive Webber commented that “Having access to HQ systems from this event has been of great assistance to our work, even simple connectivity such as email greatly improves our ability to deal with information. The trailer is easy to locate when space is limited, and we look forward to progressing its use at future events within the County.”
GFRS are now considering different functionality to be included with the trailer, such as the facility to charge hand radios, extend the network using RECoN™ wi-fi and provide fire-ground cameras. All of these technologies will be interchangeable with the Command Unit, and will provide a useful portfolio of remote access and incident management equipment.
