Fire control rooms - letter to press

3.01.24pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 2nd Jun 2005

I was happy to support the Vale of White Horse District Council's objection to the establishment of a single control room for the whole of the South East of England's Fire Service.

The Oxfordshire Fire Service is widely seen as one of the best and most efficient in the country. Rightly, residents can be proud of its high quality of service. To have it controlled, not by local people who know the area and live in the community but by a single control room somewhere in the South East region is alarming. This can only damage Oxfordshire's democratic accountability and the feeling of local "ownership" of the service.

The South East region is far too big for the controllers to have the knowledge of Oxfordshire that I would like to see. Computers are useful, but are not a substitute for an individual's experience and knowledge.

Finally, what happens if there is a breakdown or similar incident? Currently, if the Berkshire control room has a problem, the Oxfordshire service can assist and vice-versa. Local fire brigades work closely with each other and a single control room is not needed to promote joint cooperation. This is yet another example of Government's policies for centralisation gone mad!

Yours sincerely

County and District Councillor Chris Wise