I READ your article of May 10 detailing claims by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) about the Government's programme of establishing a state of the art fire control centre in each region. It's disappointing it failed to accurately reflect the benefits these will bring to the public and firefighters.
We have to face the reality that we live in an era of raised threats. These include terrorist attacks - as demonstrated by the July 7 London bombings - and natural and industrial accidents.
The Government has been committed to significant and long-term investment to make the Fire and Rescue Service better able to respond to these threats. New fire control centres are a vital part of our response, but our efforts aren't limited to this. The New Dimension programme, for instance, has delivered urban search and rescue equipment for dealing with collapsed buildings.
Our aim is to provide Fire and Rescue with the best tools available - from clothing, firefighting equipment and vehicles to IT and call handling.
We are introducing a network of regional centres to handle all calls - including very large volumes - to the Fire and Rescue Service. They will use the very latest IT and communications equipment and all control centres will be backed up to one another and able to handle calls from anywhere in the country, while also being able to locate where callers are phoning from.
This means the network will be highly effective, resilient and capable of dealing with large incidents. And despite all the scaremongering, this project is on schedule and on budget.
I disagree with the FBU's assertion that control centres will endanger the public and firefighters. For example, the new technology will enable the relaying of vital information to firefighters on their way to an incident to help them better deal with it when they arrive. This can only help improve their safety and ultimately save more lives.
The Government and FBU share a common aim of improving both public and firefighter safety. It is important we work together to achieve this and engage in discussion rather than confrontation.
ANGELA SMITH, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government.
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