The main purpose of the Firelink project is to provide the FRS with the communication facilities necessary to mobilise resources in response to any 999 call and maintain communications between the control room and incident commander. The project will replace each fire and rescue services' current main scheme radio technology with, for the first time, a single wide area communications capability in England, Scotland and Wales.

Firelink will be more than just a replacement radio system. It will support national roaming for all fire and rescue service vehicles, allowing resources to work beyond their own boundaries and communicate more readily with the police and ambulance service. It will also bring better voice quality and improved security.

In England, the Firelink project is one of three capabilities being delivered as part of Communities and Local Government’s resilience programme, the other two being FiReControl and New Dimensions. The programme unifies the Government’s approach to improving FRS technology that will:

• Make radio communications with the police and ambulance service easier
• Improve operational resilience through the provision of a new radio system and interlinking control rooms
• Provide in England and Wales the communication link for the New Dimension vehicles including high volume pumps

The Core Benefits of Firelink

Firelink will connect with command and control functionsThe benefits of Firelink will be realised in four areas:

• Resilience: the benefits associated with a reduction in the impact of failures and increased levels of security and integrity;
• Modernisation: extending the effectiveness of existing systems and supporting the FRS modernisation agenda;
• Improved performance: benefits derived from increasing the efficiency of fire and rescue communication services while maintaining or improving service quality;
• Command and Control: enabling FiReControl (England) and New Dimension to improve the effectiveness of control rooms.

Control Installations

In March 2008, the HFRS Primary and Secondary Control Rooms were successfully fitted with the equipment required to communicate with appliances. This included integrating the TETRA radios with their existing Radio Screens but also installing four stand-alone radios for fallback situations. There were also four fallback radios installed in Secondary Control in Winchester.

Vehicle Installations

During May 2008, eight vehicles were fitted with the new Firelink Tetra Radios. These vehicles are:

These vehicles will be used to train crews and trial the operational use of the radios within Hampshire.

Phase B is the installation of Firelink Tetra radios in the rest of the HFRS fleet.  This process is currently being planned to maintain operational cover whilst the entire fleet is brought in for installation over a 16 week period.

Phase B is currently being planned for January 2009, so work is underway to ensure HFRS is ready to facilitate the installation.

Phase C relates to the final installation process.

This will tie in with the cutover to the Regional Control Centre, and will see Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) fitted within the cab of all the frontline appliances.

There are currently no dates available for Phase C, but this work is being planned within other work that the FiReControl Project Team have to ensure a smooth transition.