Senior firefighters praise the unsung heroes of the service who keep communities across Tyne and Wear safe – and make sure they have one of the fastest fire services in the country.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) Area Manager Paul Russell has today (Thursday) praised the staff in their 999 Fire Control room

As part of International Control Room Week, he has hailed the role they play in keeping people across the region safe.

In the last financial year, TWFRS’s Fire Control took 35,248 calls, answering 96% of those calls in under seven seconds.

TWFRS Fire Control also play an important role in deploying appliances, identify risk and gathering important information that impacts on operations.

Despite the huge number of calls they have to take; the team of Fire Control staff have contributed to TWFRS having one of the fastest response time of all UK fire and rescue services.

The average response time for TWFRS crews to a fire at a residential property in the 2022/23 financial year was just 5 minutes 44 seconds – 9 seconds faster than the previous year.

AM Russell said: “When people pick up the phone to dial 999 and it could be at one of the worst moments of their life and our control room are amazing, so empathetic and treat everyone with respect.

“It is important that our Fire Control get all the information they need to act quickly, making sure our firefighters have all the information they need to help.

“Some of the team have worked for TWFRS in some capacity for up to 30 years, meaning they know the region like the back of their hand and are always on hand to help when they need to.

“We are so proud of the passion they have for their roles, their teamwork, their comradery to get the job done, is incredible.

“If you need our help, they make sure it gets to you and they make sure it gets there as quickly as possible, all while reassuring you and keeping you calm.

“It takes a team to fight a fire and they are the first step in any response.”

International Control Room Week is run by the founders of Control Room awards. It’s a week dedicated to celebrating the unsung heroes of the Control Room.

Control Rooms around the world are encouraged to take part with their colleagues to celebrate each other, their achievements and their incredible profession.

The week is aimed at raising public awareness of the life-saving and life-changing work of employees in critical control room.