Fire chief's upset over control bid (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Fire chief's upset over control bid

WILTSHIRE'S leading firefighter has expressed his disappointed that the new regional control centre for South West England will not be based in the county.

The new centre will be at the Blackbrook Business Park in Taunton, Somerset, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced on Wednesday.

Wiltshire Fire Brigade's chief fire officer Andy Goves said: "Naturally, we are disappointed that the new control centre is not in Wiltshire.

"We have a first class work force in our local control in Devizes and have pioneered combined fire, police and ambulance control rooms.

"However, we do accept that this project is part of the national picture and in that situation there are always winners and losers. Although our staff are disappointed there are good opportunities for those who are able to move to the new facility."

The Taunton control centre will be responsible for handling emergency calls and dispatching fire engines to incidents across the region.

The centre is part of the FireControl project and is one of nine regional control centres that will replace the existing 46 local fire service control rooms across the country. The FireControl project is the result of an independent review of fire and rescue control rooms.