Body-worn cameras introduced at fire service

A county's fire service is using 160 body-worn cameras to "help staff feel safer" and assist with deployments.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service's technology will enable its firefighters to live stream directly back to the control room from the scene of an incident.

Footage gathered can be reviewed to see what can be learned from deployments.

Scott Norman, deputy chief fire officer, said: "When the opportunity arose to use body-worn video as one of the first [services] in the Eastern region to do so, we took that opportunity because we could see the benefits for our crews and our communities."

The cameras were rolled out in December with almost 100 hours of footage from more than 500 videos already being stored.

Norman, who said the scheme had been two years in the making, said: "We can stream incidents into our control room and to officers who can provide advice and extra resources for dealing with the incident.

"For our communities, we can assure the correct response is delivered to their fire ground."

Norfolk County Council - which runs the service - allocated funds of about £200,000 for the project, with each device costing about £400.

It is hoped that directly live-streaming from a scene means risks can be identified earlier whiled improving communications with other emergency services.

The footage will also be used as a "learning tool" and be reviewed to see how incidents have been tackled and what the service and other crews can learn.

Cameron Dowie, crew manager, at Carrow station, said: "Having the opportunity to step back and provide some footage after the incident of what other crews are doing as a way of sharing some good work, some positive work and potentially some things we could do better is always is going to be invaluable."

He added while it was not the main purpose of the equipment for Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, the technology also helps crews feel safer.

Dowie continued: "One of the great privileges of being a firefighter is that the vast majority of our interactions with the community are positive ones. We are welcomed into people's homes, we are trusted to help people in really difficult circumstances.

"In the highly unlikely event we did have any kind of unwelcome behaviour towards crews absolutely it is another thing that just makes us a little more safe while we are out and doing our jobs."

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