Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Item

22 May 2002

BT System Failure 25 April 2002

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Contact:

Alan House, Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Tel: 023 8064 4000 Ext 210

1

Summary

1.1

At approximately 1930 on the evening of 25 April 2002 the Fire Control Room staff identified failures occuring on the BT telephone network. Two non-urgent administrative calls which were in progress cut out. It was quickly established that emergency lines into Fire Control were also unavailable, together with elements of the station mobilising systems. Two members of staff were sent to the Secondary Fire Control Room at Winchester to start setting up the alternative call management centre.

1.2

It soon became evident that the failure affected not only the immediate local area to the control room, but also large areas of the county. A decision was made to transfer the receipt of emergency calls to the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service Control Room in Reading. This arrangement is part of the long-standing breakdown/evacuation plan known as `Operation Beta' which was last tested on Tuesday 26 February 2002. Calls were successfully transferred and the Royal Berkshire Control Room relayed incident calls back to Hampshire Control using the "Interforce" radio system.

1.3

In the meantime, all Hampshire's fire stations were contacted and required to provide radio contact via fire appliances. They were also required to maintain a high visibility to members of the public who might go to fire stations in an emergency if they found their telephones were not working. Crews were instructed to raise the station doors, turn on the lights and be at the front of the fire station to liaise with the public.

1.4

At the same time contact was made with police and ambulances service colleagues. An ambulance and a police vehicle were positioned at Fire Control to provide radio links between the three services. This proved to be very successful with calls being transferred between the services on a number of occasions. A message was passed to the media advising the public that police and fire stations were crewed and members of the public could report any emergencies in person at the stations.

1.5

A typical example of the way calls were routed was a request from Hythe Hospital for an ambulance. This call was routed to the Hythe Fire Station appliance which directed a radio call to Fire Control; this was then relayed to the ambulance officers who were located at Eastleigh Ambulance Station via a radio message to an Eastleigh Fire Station appliance. The ambulance officer made a radio call to Ambulance Control and an ambulance was despatched. Although it was a tortuous method, it was extremely effective in the circumstances.

1.6

The failure of the landline telephone system resulted in additional pressure on the mobile telephone network making many of them unavailable to members of the public.

1.7

The emergency (999) system started to come back into operation before midnight but several thousand lines remained affected with the last not being reinstated until 0455 hours the following morning. Hampshire's fire stations were continuously crewed until the telephone lines in their areas were reported to be in working order.

1.8

Liaison meetings are now going on with colleagues from the other emergency services and with BT to establish the cause of the problems and ensure contingency plans are sufficiently robust.

1.9

The additional cost of this unusual experience is being assessed with a view to reclaiming the full amount from BT.

2

Follow-up Meetings

2.1

A meeting was held on Tuesday 30 April 2002 to discuss the problems of the telephone network failure; was attended by representatives from: Police, Ambulance, Fire & Rescue Service, Coastguard and NHS Direct.

2.2

A further meeting has been arranged for 23 May 2002 with BT, representatives from the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) and other emergency services to discuss the faults and action to be taken to limit the possibility of a recurrence.

3

European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998

3.1

The proposals within this report are compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.

Recommendations

That the report is noted.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report.

None

NB The list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

Dir.fin HFRA 22 5 2002 - BT failure PFCO/JMW/14/5/02