Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service are submitting a proposal to Cornwall Council to close the Critical Control Centre at Tolvaddon. Your 999 call will not be answered in Cornwall!

The clue is in the name, the team are a critical function for the county, they answer over 59000 calls every year, including 999 calls for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Also calls can come into Cornwall Critical Control for bordering areas of Devon and the resilience partnership with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

On the 14th September the close knit team were devastated to be told in an informal meeting that within 6 months the Control Centre could be closed and all emergency calls would be answered by another call centre, the idea of it not even being a Fire Service was being looked at!

Resulting in numerous job losses of highly skilled professionals, in a service who have already dessimated the support and operational staff, putting the local community at even higher risk than they currently are.

The reason for the closure has been given as a need to save money and all other options have been explored… In a recent meeting the team were told by Senior Fire Service Managers that “We have weighed up lots of options but this is the only option we can take forward to the NOSC [Cornwall Councils Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee]”

The Critical Control Centre already generates income for the Fire Service budget through CCTV monitoring and the answering of out-of-hours Cornwall Council phonelines. The team were told that increasing this won’t work, and it “will put unnecessary stress on the operators”. 

Does Cornwall Fire and Rescue Senior Management think the risk of loosing your job doesn’t increase stress? 

The Critical Control Centre are asking for your support, help us keep our vital 999 control function within Cornwall. 

Help us to keep local knowledge at the forefront of responding to your community…

On a daily basis the call takers question people in a crisis about where they are, using the local knowledge to pinpoint exactly where the person is. Whether your house is burning down, you’re trapped in a car or your dog is down a mineshaft, do you think some one who is hundreds of miles away could know where you are truly?

If this happens now, what’s next? - 999 calls taken outside of the UK? Privatise Fire Stations? Close fire stations? Hire in fire engines for the weekends?

The team want to raise awareness and put this petition to Cornwall Council to block any such proposal. Help to keep your 999 function in Cornwall!

The Critical Control Team, and your own community, thank you

Our petition will close on 30th October 2022 at 12:00pm (midday)