Command & Control Centre
The Command and Control Centre of Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service is staffed by 19 operators including a Control Trainer and Fire Control Officer.
The role of Service Control is to
Promote the Health & Safety of Brigade Personnel & the Public
Following on from the spate of operational activity in February and March 2003, April turned out to be the busiest month of 2003/2004 due mainly to the combination of dry weather and muirburning, resulting in a large number of incidents involving forest, heath or grassland. The continuing good weather in July and August also contributed to the rise in activity where the number of heath fires again increased on the previous years.
Such incidents tend to be resource intensive and of an extended duration, sometimes lasting for days. After handling the calls for assistance and mobilising an initial response, Service Control continue to contribute by supporting Fire and Rescue Service operations - mobilising additional resources, organising relief crews, organising and liaising with landowners and helicopter companies, monitoring the welfare of crews and recording Fire and Rescue Service activities in incident logs. Importantly as crews become committed at these incidents Service Control are responsible for the redistribution of resources throughout the area to ensure fire cover is maintained
Integrated Risk Management Planning
The introduction of integrated risk management planning to the Fire and Rescue Service gave Control the opportunity to use the skills they have developed in data collection, validation and interpretation to assist the IRMP team to analyse, evaluate and assess the risks to the communities in the area and to reduce those risks and provide a more effective service.
System Upgrades
2003-2004 heralded a major upgrade in the Command and Control System installed in Service Control. The increased functionality of the system will aid the Fire and Rescue Service in planning, risk management and operations by including
- A quarterly updated address database where every premise in the Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service area is automatically assigned a 12 figure Ordnance Survey grid reference
Work in 2004-2005 will centre around developing the system for optimum performance.