Cornwall Fire Service control centre faces being shut down under new council proposals

The emergency call centre at Cornwall Fire Service could be closed as part of a council bid to save money.

The decision would result in the whole control centre's workforce being made redundant or redeployed elsewhere.

Firefighter control staff are responsible for handling calls from the public, providing safety guidance and deploying vehicles to emergencies.

If the plans go ahead, it would mean that fire and rescue calls would be handled by other emergency service control operations.

Cornwall Council has said that no decisions have yet been made on the future of the control centre but that it is exploring merging the service with another fire service elsewhere in the country.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned that it would oppose the move in the interests of public safety.

Guy Herrington, Fire Brigades Union South West regional secretary said: "If we send [calls] out of the county, who knows how long or what criteria other controls will have at handling those calls.

“Cornwall Council must fund the service properly to ensure that the residents, and visitors to the county, receive a service that is fit for the 21st century, and that includes fire control."

He added: “Highly specialised skills and knowledge are required to handle fire and rescue calls. The ability of control staff to assist in identifying incident locations, while mobilising resources at the same time, cannot be underestimated.

"IT systems are not 100% reliable, and when failures occur, it is vital that the control operators are able to cope in all circumstances."

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service says there is an ongoing project underway to review fire control in the county and the service has been looking at ways to improve its operation.

Chief Fire Officer at the service, Kathryn Billing, said: "On Tuesday (13 September), staff were talked through the scope of the project for the first time and made aware that one option the service is exploring is to move into a partnership with other fire services to deliver the call handling and mobilising function of control.

“This has already been done successfully in other regions and could lead to Cornwall benefiting from enhanced mobilising technology.

"No decisions have been taken, but staff will be kept fully informed, and as the project continues more information will be provided as it becomes available.”

Cornwall Council have not yet publicly commented on the proposals.

With support from the Local Democracy Reporting Service.