Potential plans to close Cornwall Fire & Rescue's 999 control centre

Officials have confirmed the service is under review, but no decision has been made

Author: Emma HartPublished 16th Sep 2022

There are fears the 999 control centre for Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service could be scrapped.

Plans are being explored to merge the service, based at Tolvaddon, with another elsewhere in the country.

A person close to personnel said staff were called to a meeting on Wednesday, to be told the service was under review.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, told us workers had been warned of "wholesale redundancy".

The centre is responsible for answering both 999 calls and mobilising crews to emergencies.

The person added that outsourcing that to those with no local knowledge would be "insanity".

We approached Cornwall Council for a statement and received the following from Cornwall's Chief Fire Officer, Kathryn Billing.

"Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service has been looking at all areas of the service to make sure we are making the best use of public money, continually improve the service and ensure sustainability for the future.

"There is an ongoing project to review Fire Control (the function of taking 999 calls and mobilising fire engines to emergencies). Yesterday staff were talked through the scope of the project for the first time and made aware that one option the service is exploring is to move into a partnership with other fire services to deliver the call handling and mobilising function of control.

"This has already been done successfully in other regions and could lead to Cornwall benefiting from enhanced mobilising technology.

"No decisions have been taken, but staff will be kept fully informed, and as the project continues more information will be provided as it becomes available".

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