Committee: FIRE AND PUBLIC SAFETY SELECT
COMMITTEE
Date: 20
MAY 2002
Title: 999
SYSTEM
REPORT OF THE
CHIEF FIRE OFFICER
SUMMARY/PURPOSE
This is an
information paper in relation to the 999 system that failed recently and
affected parts of the mainland in particular Hampshire on Thursday 25 April
2002.
Apparently the
problem was involved with the BT lines and affected the Police Control Room at
Netley as well as other `phone lines.
The period of the fault was between 18.30 that evening to approximately
midnight when the fault was fixed and normal services were resumed. During the failure BT rerouted calls via
other exchanges and agencies.
The first that
the Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service knew of the problem was on teletext
that there was a problem with the 999 system.
We immediately `phoned BT=s call handling centre at Newport in Gwent (this is BT=s single point
of contact for 999 enquiries) who
stated that they were aware of the problem but the Isle of Wight was not
affected in any way. However, certain
problems were being experienced with both land line and mobile `phones where
dialing tones could not be obtained. The Brigade were not informed officially
throughout this period by BT. The situation was helped by a Police Constable
handing Fire Control a hand-held radio stating that there was a potential
problem with the 999 system. The Isle
of Wight Fire & Rescue Service has contingency plans for such events and
took the following action:
The Brigade
placed a firefighter on to each fire station to ensure a physical presence
should a member of the public have a fire in their home and not be able to use
the 999 system. This process was
relayed to the Isle of Wight Radio to be announced to the public, as what had
been stated on Meridian and BBC television was that if the public had a problem
they were to go to their nearest police station. That of course would not have helped members of the public in
case of fire, should there have been a problem.
CONCLUSION
At no point did
the Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service experience any 999 failures or
problems during this period, however, due to the limitation of the telephone
system mentioned above, it was decided to take this action as a precautionary
measure.
Subsequently we
have contacted Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service and have been informed that
they were not informed officially by any agency that there was a problem with
the 999 system.
This situation and its potential problem should this happen in
future will be raised by myself at the next Emergency Service Joint Liaison
Group in due course.
I have taken the following actions to ensure that the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service is kept fully informed of 999 failure in the future:-
1. I have tasked my Third Officer to
liaise with other emergency controls to communicate issues as they arise in
future of this nature.
2. I have asked for an explanation from
British Telecommunications as to why we were not informed that there was a
problem with the 999 system although it did not affect us directly.
3. I have placed this matter on the agenda
for the next 999 Emergency Services Joint Liaison Group meeting.
Contact Point:
DO P D Street, Third Officer F 01983 823195
RICHARD HARDS
Chief Fire
Officer