New £2.5 million control room opens in Dundee

New control centre will respond to all calls in northern Scotland

A new £2.5 million emergency command centre for the north of Scotland was unveiled in Dundee yesterday.

Calls from Dundee to Lerwick will be routed to staff in the Macalpine Road base following the closure of control rooms in Inverness and Aberdeen.

The move has attracted some criticism with fears local knowledge will be lost.

However, Alasdair Hay, chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, believes the move will be a positive one for the public.

He said: “What we have here is a command and control centre fit for the 21st Century.

He continued: “Our business is all about saving lives, protecting property, rendering humanitarian services, there is no decision we would take which would put any of that in jeopardy.”

Mr Hay recognises people’s fears over the move, but believes Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) staff will rise to the challenge.

He said: “It’s right that people raise these issues and that any change in a vital public service, like the Fire and Rescue Service, is scrutinised.

“We expect and support the challenge we have had, but the question that always comes out about local knowledge, to me, is a combination of three things.

“It’s about the professional knowledge and skills that the control room staff have – and they absolutely have those skills.

“It’s about the technology that supports them, and it’s about teamwork.

“This has been the biggest professional challenge our control room staff have ever experienced and what I can say is that I have been absolutely impressed by their professionalism and their dedication to deal with that challenge.”

Lewis Ramsay, director of response and resilience with the SFRS, said: “All this change is going on and our control room operators are not only working through the change, but are still trying very hard to maintain the level of service the public demands.

“So while I can feel a little stressed by it, I have to take my hat off to these people who are in the eye of the storm, so to speak.”

Picture: Steven Brown. Beth Clark hard at work in the new control centre on Macalpine Road.