FiReControl was a project, initiated in the United Kingdom in March 2004, to reduce the number of control rooms used to handle emergency calls for fire services and authorities.
The control staff maintained contact with the fire crews, in most cases by voice radio, whilst on their way and during the incident to provide current information and respond to critical requests.
Although the control rooms relied on different technologies and operational procedures and were not physically networked, they supported each other by taking calls and giving advice to callers from outside their area.
In support of the new control rooms an additional government project called FireLink was initiated to deliver a new digital radio system Airwave.
[6] In March 2007, then fire and rescue service minister Angela Smith announced that EADS (now Airbus Defence & Space) had been awarded an eight-year £200 million contract to supply the IT infrastructure for the RCCs.
Cut over was planned to happen gradually with groups of fire and rescue services moving from local control centre to RCC in batches.
Members of the fire brigades union had grave concerns about the diversion of money to the project, and questioned the feasibility of having 30% fewer control staff available to answer emergency calls across the country during spate conditions.