Resilient fire control systems

To ensure continuity of critical fire control activities, fire and rescue services should provide resilient and appropriate fire control systems. The systems should effectively support the activities required of fire control and operational personnel.

Mobilising methods

Electronic data links provide methods of communication between fire control, fire stations and operational resources. They enable resources to be alerted and incident information to be shared. The equipment provided may include the ability to activate lights, audible alert methods, and display critical information. Operational personnel not at a fire station may be alerted via mobile data terminals (MDTs). On-call operational personnel may be simultaneously alerted via integrated messaging systems.

Information can be sent to resources in several ways. For example, data messages may be sent to a system located in a fire station or at another resource location, even if temporarily.

Electronic data links between the mobilising system and fire station equipment may be provided in several ways. Multiple bearers are usually employed for resilience.

Mobilising systems

When used in conjunction with automatic vehicle location systems (AVLS), mobilising systems can assist fire control personnel in identifying the nearest available resources to an incident. Mobilising systems are also used by fire control personnel to assign resources to an incident. Predetermined attendances based on an address-based gazetteer can be configured alongside incident types in the mobilising system. Such systems can propose resources based on criteria, such as availability status, location and travel time. Fire control personnel may then accept or amend a response based on the information collected during emergency call management and their situational awareness of other incidents and events.

Secondary functions include displaying alarm conditions for the system and generating statistical information.

Other types of information that can be linked in the mobilising system include:

• Call prompts
• Action plans
• Premises-based gazetteer
• Supplementary information, such as aide-memoires
• Information about the pre-determined attendance and specialist equipment that may be mobilised
• Site-Specific Risk Information about people or premises
• Electronic handover
• Historical data
• Directories of contacts

For more information refer to Emergency call management and mobilising.

Other functions that a mobilising system may provide include:

• Batching and queuing calls in spate conditions
• Operating system alarms
• Attribute based response
• Resource management
• Training modes
• An automated record of incident data, such as the date and time that information was generated or inputted
• User profiles and access levels

Duplications of servers in the mobilising system can provide resilience against system failures. If one server fails, the other servers can continue to provide fire control personnel with access to the mobilising system.

Where cloud-hosted or a combination of on-site and cloud-hosted mobilising systems are used, recovery plans should be put in place. These may include data encryption and continuous remote monitoring.

Data storage and transfer should have built-in resilience and disaster recovery for resilience.

Telephony equipment

Fire and rescue services are responsible for providing the means of receiving emergency calls. They are also required to notify the call handling agent about the equipment and the connect-to routings in use.

Fire and rescue services should have arrangements in place that ensures they can still receive emergency calls even during the most serious network issues.

Fire and rescue services should consider contingency methods. These should allow fire control to continue to function through unplanned communication loss, such as network, power or hardware failure.

Sufficient telephone lines should be allocated to fire control to ensure all types of calls can be connected and emergency calls are prioritised effectively. Fire and rescue services should consider the priority level of calls and the types of calls they receive. Primary, secondary and alternative routes should be considered to meet the requirements set out in the Public Emergency Call Service (PECS) Code of Practice.

The call handling agent has a network with built-in resilience to connect emergency calls to emergency authority control rooms. Calls will normally be connected via the primary route. Alternative routings will automatically be used if congestion or failure is detected.

Primary

Route initially used by call handling agent to connect the caller, reserved exclusively for receiving 999/112 calls.

Secondary

The secondary number is normally only used if there is an unusually high level of calls or the primary number is unavailable. The call handling agent will use the secondary route if they receive no reply after a set length of time on the primary route.

Alternative

An alternative route should be provided for situations where the primary and secondary routes are unavailable. If the call handling agent receives no reply after a set length of time on the secondary route, they will attempt to connect the caller using the alternative route. For resilience, this number must be served by a different network route from that providing the primary and secondary routes.

Communications equipment

The mobilising system adopted may integrate telephony and radio communication channels into a common platform known as Integrated Communication Control System (ICCS). Its functions include:

• Audio and visual distinction between emergency and non-emergency calls and radio communication channels
• Queuing of emergency and non-emergency calls
• Present priority calls at the top of the queue
• Indicating how long calls have been queuing
• Methods to manage radio transmissions
• Automatic call distribution (ACD)
• Methods to audio monitor calls and radio transmissions
• Recording and an instant playback function for calls and radio transmissions
• Methods to manage radio assets assigned to operational resources
• Methods to manage talkgroups

The ICCS should include a network with built-in resilience to support the system. The methods used may vary depending on the network supplier. Consideration should be given to the methods of support available, and fire control personnel should be provided with access to an appropriate support and maintenance service.

Electronic methods of sharing information

Electronic methods allow fire control personnel to share and receive incident information electronically in a standard format, without the need for telephone calls or emails.

In situations where electronic methods are unavailable, fire control personnel should use telephone, radio hailing talkgroups or email to share incident information with other emergency control rooms.

Radio network

Fire and rescue services have access to a radio network, on which they can communicate with emergency responders. Resilience to the network is provided in several ways, including:

• Encryption
• Backup power sources
• Disaster recovery plans

Fire and rescue services should consider the loss of the radio network in its business continuity arrangements. Alternative communication methods may include mobile and satellite telephones.

Power supplies

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) provides power if the main power source into fire control fails. This should switch over automatically and provide an alert, so that fire control personnel are aware and can consider what further actions they may need to take. The switch over to the UPS power supply should not cause any interruptions to the systems fire control personnel use. Backup power sources, such as batteries or generators, will ensure that critical systems continue to operate during a power outage. The supply provided by a UPS is usually for a defined period. Further methods to provide power may need to be considered if an outage is expected to last for an extended length of time.

Welfare and wellbeing

Failures in fire control systems and telephony may stress fire control personnel and affect their wellbeing, particularly if failures occur during the process of emergency call management. Fire control personnel should be offered access to appropriate methods of post-incident support.

For more information refer to Fire control command, risk assessment of fire control activities.