Fire service opens new control room after move

Jon Lacey said the first call came in to the control room nine minutes after it became operational

A fire and rescue service has opened a new control room after it decided to stop sharing one with another county.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service announced it would no longer share a control room with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority in Huntingdon in 2023.

Suffolk County Council made the decision after it believed the system was "no longer fit for purpose".

The authority opened the new £1.6m site in Ipswich on 24 June, following a six-month delay.

The project took 18 months to complete, which the council said was "a short timeframe for a project of this scale".

Twenty-three new members of staff have been hired to work in the control room.

The fire service has hired 23 new members of staff to work in the control room

The council said it would be collaborating with Norfolk and Hertfordshire fire services, which were adopting the same technology systems.

It said the control room could see calls being handled in those counties during busy periods or during larger emergencies such as flooding.

The new technology allows control room staff to work remotely, however the BBC understands it would only be used where necessary, such as if the building needed to be evacuated or weather conditions stopped staff from getting to work, rather than routine working from home.

Jon Lacey, the chief fire officer for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This project is about making sure every call for help is answered with speed, precision and care.

"Bringing services back into the county was a decisive move to put Suffolk's residents and public value at the heart of emergency response."