IT problems delay new fire-control centres

ENGLAND’S FIRE BRIGADE IT systems are already two years out of date. Now, to add a little bit more emergency the new control network has been delayed due to IT problems.

The FireControl project, costing a hefty £380m was designed to build nine networked high-tech fire brigade control centres – yet this has been delayed by five months.

According to communities and local government minister, Sadiq Khan the blame lies on “fixing a number of difficulties with the ICT.”

When they are finally in place these regional hubs will replace the 46 existing fire-control centres, providing a wider access to information during.

Hopefully this will be worked out by the time the Olympics begin, as the full system is supposed to be ready by spring 2012.

Khan was dubious whether this target was also a little optimistic, hinting that this date could slip even further due to meeting final deadlines is dependent on completion of the previous stages of the project.

Yet although we might be waiting for a long time until this is actually up and running, Khan did muster up some praise for the scheme saying that, "It will result in greater resilience and collaboration, better information and incident support for firefighters, and a better service to the public — both day to day and during major incidents." µ

L'Inq
ZDnet