Westminster Diary - 6th September 2005

Tuesday, 6th September 2005

Just like everyone else, I want two things above all from the Fire Service. I want the firefighters who attend my fire to be well-trained and efficient and I want them to get there quickly. I have every confidence that Warwickshire’s firefighters are good at their job, but I am not convinced that the government’s planned changes to the way emergency calls are dealt with will help them do it.

The Fire and Rescue Services Act of 2004 requires County Fire Authorities to begin to process emergency calls regionally, not at more local control rooms. What that means for us is that our 999 calls reporting a fire will be received in Wolverhampton, not Leamington Spa. The new regional control room will be responsible for an area of almost 13,000 square kilometres and containing over 5 million people. The cost of this restructuring will be £72 million.

Leaving aside the cost, which I accept may be partially accounted for by updating which would have been necessary in any event, I have some practical concerns about this proposal. It seems to me inevitable that some of the calls received by fire control rooms, made by those who are distressed and anxious, do not include detailed and accurate descriptions of the addresses of the fires being reported. Sometimes call centre operators have to fill in the blanks. Local knowledge is hugely important in order to get fire engines to where they need to be as fast as possible. Even with the best of training, I cannot accept that we will be able to staff the Wolverhampton Fire Control Room with operators who have 13,000 square kilometres of local knowledge. Doubtless they will have the best mapping technology available, but anyone who has ever used a satellite navigation system will recognise that the computer rarely knows your area better than you do.

We also live in uncertain times and the disabling of a regional fire control centre by natural disaster or terrorist attack could incapacitate emergency services across a very wide area. The Fire Brigades Union has described these changes as ‘dangerous and irresponsible’.

I do not oppose all change to the Fire Service, but I do oppose changes made to pursue a regional government agenda which may have the effect of making all of us less safe.

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Updated on Tuesday, 6th September 2005