Firefighters at risk from radio network

UK firefighters could be ordered to go into potentially explosive buildings with sparking radios.

Airwave, the terrestrial trunked radio (Tetra) network from BT that is being rolled out to the police forces, was originally designed for all emergency services. With Tetra gaining ground as a standard for trunked radio, political pressure is rising in the UK to convince fire brigades to sign up.

However, Network News can reveal that Tetra networks spark, making them dangerous in typical firefighting scenarios where gas or fumes could ignite.

The Dutch fire brigade has implemented Tetra, and Frans Schippers, fire chief in Amstelveen, said the sparking terminals were a cause for concern.

"Some teams will not enter when there is a risk of explosion, and those who will use their old analogue radio system," he said.

Schippers added that available Tetra handsets were not designed for use with heat-protective clothing. "You find yourself in the middle of a fire and have to take your gloves off to switch on your radio," he said.

But according to Ray Ginman, the Home Office's head of radio engineering, the UK has no intention of investing in separate infrastructures for fire fighters to fall back on.

David Thompson, divisional officer at the technical operational services department of the Lancashire fire brigade, said: "There is a lobby to get all emergency services on Airwave, but there is a group within the fire brigade that is fiercely against joining up."

Because Airwave was intended for all emergency services, it was allocated a wide range of radio frequencies, and Motorola is building a backbone that can provide capacity needed for the joint requirement.

Jeff Parris, general manager of BT, said: "BT carries the financial risk of emergency services not signing up. If they chose not to, Airwave will not be sufficiently profitable."

First published in Network News