The Chief Fire Officer of Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue, Trevor Ferguson, welcomed Reading East MP Matt Rodda to tour the county’s state of the art operational control centre based in Reading, in addition to holding talks on the changes and challenges
which the fire service deals with on an everyday basis.

Matt was interested to learn of the new measures being implemented to bring fire stations into the 21st century, including the provision of new-build programmes around the region. Matt was also briefed on the progress of RBFRS’ work to check
for dangerous cladding and other risks in flats and other buildings following the Grenfell Disaster.

The Chief Fire Officer gave Matt a tour of the operational control centre in Reading, where front-line staff explained the data capture and despatch process for fire appliance attendance. This on-screen information was then illustrated on huge screens showing the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire counties with a real-time display and locations of all fire appliances.

Matt said:
“I’d like to thank the Chief Fire Officer, Trevor Ferguson, for arranging this visit and also to thank Fire Service staff at the Reading operations centre who took the time to explain to me the various functions and roles they had within RBFRS.

“Our fire service does a remarkable job often in the most challenging and difficult of circumstances and I want to support them as a new local MP and look forward to working with them.”