Bishop of St Albans meets fire team

The Bishop of St Albans, The Right Revd Dr Alan Smith visited Fire Control on his tour of BLFRS in March. Accompanied by BLFRS chaplain Revd Barbara Johnson, the Bishop also met with SC John Belcher and crews at Kempston Fire Station and GC Andy Peckham and team at the Training Centre.

*In 2010, 100 people attended the Commissioning and Licensing ceremony for Revd Barbara Johnson as Service Chaplain for BLFRS at Kempston Fire Station by The Bishop of Bedford, The Rt Revd Richard Inwood.

New Fire Control Technology

BLFRS Service is investing in new IT for Fire Control. The decision proved well made when it was announced earlier this year that the long-planned Regional Control Centre had been effectively cancelled.

Chief Fire Officer Paul Fuller said: "We had to think ahead to ensure the safety of our community - our old system was functional but becoming obselete.

“The Combined Fire Authority had previously put £200,000 in reserves to cover the costs of technology and training for a new system and we decided to put that plan into action."

Existing staff will be trained in the new technology. The modern system will bring added advantages as it will more readily interface with other computer systems used elsewhere in the organisation.

Regional Control Centres were first suggested about ten years ago by the then Labour Government. The project has been delayed time and time again and was finally cancelled when the Government came to power.

*The Longest serving BLFRS control centre operator Tony Harris MBE retired at the end of 2010 after 46 years.