The plan to consolidate 42 local fire control rooms into nine regional centres will save £14m a year, according to government figures released last week.

The £200m eight-year technology deal for the FiReControl scheme was signed with supplier EADS last month, and the first upgraded control room will go live in October 2009.

Once the national network is operational, running costs will be about £66m per year, compared with the current £80m.

‘Providing nine networked centres will represent value for money, balancing forecast costs against future resilience and operational benefits, and secure significant operational cost savings,’ says an information note sent out to local Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) last week.

Individual FRS saving levels will vary according to the level of technological development.

Up-front costs, including new control rooms, technology, data migration and training costs, will all be met by central government, says the Department for Communities and Local Government. Once the regional controls are up and running, newly-created local authority companies will take over the running costs.

The FiReControl programme will provide standard features across the country, including:

* Caller location to identify members of the public telephoning the fire service.

* Satellite positioning to inform operators which engines are located nearest to the incident.

* Computer-aided systems to automatically mobilise the correct response.

* In-cab displays including maps showing the quickest route to the incident and details of known hazards in the area.