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7 November 2025
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New fire control room 'serving local people', Suffolk, UK
Staff underwent intense training ahead of the new control room opening
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Suffolk Fire and Rescue said bringing services back to Suffolk put residents and public value at the heart of emergency response
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Georgina Trownson, station manager, said local staff were serving local people
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A new fire control room means local people will be served better during emergencies, staff believe. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service opened its new state-of-the-art control room in Ipswich back in June. It came after Suffolk County Council ended a partnership with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority and use of their shared control room. The new control room took 18 months to complete and it was due to open at the end of 2024, but it was delayed due to the service supporting a new mobilising system in Cambridgeshire. The project cost £1.6m and 23 new members of staff were hired.
Four months since opening, Georgina Trownson, station manager, said the new way of working meant local staff were serving local people.
Robin Patchett, watch manager, said the teams were ready and waiting to help those who needed it. "We can work much closer with the crews on the appliances and the officers in the other departments within the service," he said of the new control room. We also have a bit more local knowledge. I have lived in Suffolk for over 20 years and having worked in the previous control room I know the county really well. It does make it a little easier. The biggest advantage is having that closer working relationship with all of our other departments."
Paul Walden, part of Green Watch at the service, has worked both as a firefighter and now in the control room. He said his colleagues in Cambridgeshire had done a "fantastic job", but the Suffolk staff "know our risks and abilities". We are very rural as a county, we are known as a farming county," he said. "Yes we have Ipswich, we have Lowestoft and we have Bury [St Edmunds], which are large towns, we have no cities. But we have rural villages so it can be a lot further to travel for a fire engine so that is a big challenge. During the summer we have a lot of field fires which is a big issue we have with Suffolk at the moment."
Background – Investing in improved emergency response
Covering the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) responds to a variety of emergencies across the community. Having previously shared a fire control room with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire and Rescue Service, SFRS sought to strengthen its emergency response capabilities and made the decision to invest in its own purpose-built control rooms. The primary fire control room would be established in Ipswich, with a secondary site in Felixstowe designated for disaster recovery to ensure operational resilience in the event of disruption to the main facility.
The Requirement – A Modern & Scalable Fire Control Room Solution
Suffolk Fire and Rescue wanted a modern and scalable fire control room solution that could provide improved situational awareness and enhance decision-making during critical incidents. The aim was to build a control environment that was both resilient and future-proof, one that could adapt to changing needs and accommodate emerging technologies.
To meet these goals, the system needed to support multiple data feeds, from live video and network traffic to weather and geolocation data, all presented in a highly visual and configurable format that allows operators to easily customise the information they engage with. Crucially, the solution also had to enable remote management of systems and support continuity of operations in the event of disruption to the main site.
“Emergency services command and control rooms are mission-critical environments where the ability to interpret and act on real-time information is essential. Our partnership with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service reflects our commitment to supporting the vital work of blue light organisations. Using our expertise in control room technology, we have designed a system that ensures efficient resource deployment and strengthens SFRS’s mission to serve the local community”, said Steve Franklin, Executive Director, Cinos.
Source: BBC, Cinos
Four months since opening, Georgina Trownson, station manager, said the new way of working meant local staff were serving local people.
Robin Patchett, watch manager, said the teams were ready and waiting to help those who needed it. "We can work much closer with the crews on the appliances and the officers in the other departments within the service," he said of the new control room. We also have a bit more local knowledge. I have lived in Suffolk for over 20 years and having worked in the previous control room I know the county really well. It does make it a little easier. The biggest advantage is having that closer working relationship with all of our other departments."
Paul Walden, part of Green Watch at the service, has worked both as a firefighter and now in the control room. He said his colleagues in Cambridgeshire had done a "fantastic job", but the Suffolk staff "know our risks and abilities". We are very rural as a county, we are known as a farming county," he said. "Yes we have Ipswich, we have Lowestoft and we have Bury [St Edmunds], which are large towns, we have no cities. But we have rural villages so it can be a lot further to travel for a fire engine so that is a big challenge. During the summer we have a lot of field fires which is a big issue we have with Suffolk at the moment."
Background – Investing in improved emergency response
Covering the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) responds to a variety of emergencies across the community. Having previously shared a fire control room with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire and Rescue Service, SFRS sought to strengthen its emergency response capabilities and made the decision to invest in its own purpose-built control rooms. The primary fire control room would be established in Ipswich, with a secondary site in Felixstowe designated for disaster recovery to ensure operational resilience in the event of disruption to the main facility.
The Requirement – A Modern & Scalable Fire Control Room Solution
Suffolk Fire and Rescue wanted a modern and scalable fire control room solution that could provide improved situational awareness and enhance decision-making during critical incidents. The aim was to build a control environment that was both resilient and future-proof, one that could adapt to changing needs and accommodate emerging technologies.
To meet these goals, the system needed to support multiple data feeds, from live video and network traffic to weather and geolocation data, all presented in a highly visual and configurable format that allows operators to easily customise the information they engage with. Crucially, the solution also had to enable remote management of systems and support continuity of operations in the event of disruption to the main site.
“Emergency services command and control rooms are mission-critical environments where the ability to interpret and act on real-time information is essential. Our partnership with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service reflects our commitment to supporting the vital work of blue light organisations. Using our expertise in control room technology, we have designed a system that ensures efficient resource deployment and strengthens SFRS’s mission to serve the local community”, said Steve Franklin, Executive Director, Cinos.
Source: BBC, Cinos