Firelink Interim Solution

Supporting Background Information on the work of the Interim Solutions Task Force

With the FiReControl contract announcement on 30 March 2007 it became clear that the Interim Period would be much longer than had initially been thought and would vary from between 24 to 48 months.

In recognition of the extended nature of the Interim Period, and to ensure that the individual fire and rescue services have an Interim Solution that will meet their operational requirement, an ‘Interim Solutions Task Force’ was set up.

As a first step, all English fire and rescue services were visited and/or consulted individually. This was done on a regional basis with FiReControl input. The emphasis was on gaining an understanding of each FRS’s unique requirements in order to develop a mutually satisfactory solution for their specific operational and technical circumstances.

Following the initial consultation, a technical options paper was drawn up and Change Control Notices (CCNs) were submitted to Airwave in order to look at the feasibility of enhancements for the integrated and non-integrated SAN I, along with costs, timings for production and installation.

What is the Firelink interim solution?

The Interim Solution will provide the initial equipment and functionality that will be rolled out into legacy control rooms and appliances in England, prior to the cutover of fire and rescue services to the new Regional Control Centres (RCCs).

How long with the interim solution be in place for?

The duration that the Firelink Interim Solution will be in place for is different with each FRS between two and four years. The period is based on the time between a FRS’s position in the Firelink roll out programme and their cutover to the RCC.

What will it provide?

During the time frame that the Interim Solution is operational for, the Airwave service will support voice communications. Fire and rescue services have been given the option to retain their legacy data systems to run in parallel with the Firelink Interim Solution, for the purpose of maintaining a dual capability of voice and data communications. Once the transition to RCCs takes place, all fire and rescue services will be able to use the new command and control capability provided by FiReControl.

Doesn’t the Interim Solution add to the burden of ‘modernisation’ in the FRS?

Fire and rescue services have raised concerns over some of the operational limitations of the existing solution and as a result, the project is considering enhancements to address these constraints. A team of technical and operational experts from the Firelink and FiReControl projects is visiting each FRS to identify its specific needs. The conclusion of this activity is likely to be available in the latter part of this year and the FRS will be kept apprised of progress throughout.

Why not introduce the full Firelink solution straight away?

Prior to the initiation of the FiReControl project, it was planned that Firelink would give a complex fit into all English control rooms. However, a full installation would have incurred significant costs for the FRS to carry out the integration of mobilising systems with Firelink. The end result would not only have been costly for the FRS, it also would not have supported many of the resilience aims that the FiReControl project has been set up to provide i.e. control centres acting as fallbacks for each other, common software suite/common processes. 

Why not introduce Firelink when fire and rescue services cut over to RCCs?