10 years of Control Room collaboration across Thames Valley fire services – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire

This month marks ten years since the launch of the Thames Valley Fire Control Service (TVFCS), which provides 24/7 emergency call handling and dispatch for three neighbouring fire services.

Based in Calcot, Reading, TVFCS is the place all 999 calls are taken for fire and rescue incidents across the whole of the Thames Valley area, comprising the counties of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

TVFCS marked its tenth anniversary with a series of events across the three counties throughout April. These included:

• Each fire service hosted Control staff for a team-building session at one its stations: Newbury Fire Station (Berkshire), Slade Fire Station (Oxfordshire), and West Ashland Fire Station (Buckinghamshire)
• Staff took part in a gruelling 50-mile commemorative walk between the three counties, taking in each service’s headquarters – Aylesbury, Kidlington, and Reading.
• Staff and elected members of the three services paid tribute to Control staff past and present at a formal anniversary lunch.

The tri-service centre is based at RBFRS headquarters in Reading, where colleagues work 24/7 answering emergency calls from the public. From here, staff mobilise fire engines on behalf of the three fire and rescue services to incidents across the Thames Valley, serving a combined population of more than two million people.

The pioneering collaboration became fully operational on 23 April 2015 and replaced the service’s individual control rooms in Aylesbury, Kidlington and Reading.

The creation of TVFCS improved the way firefighters and appliances are sent to incidents across the three counties, resulting in a better service for the people of the Thames Valley, and an estimated saving of more than £17 million over the past ten years.

To mark the date, a special anniversary reception was held at RBFRS headquarters on Wednesday, 23 April 2025, attended by elected members from Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, as well as present and former staff.

The team, led by Group Manager Simon Harris, is currently made up of 41 members of staff. He said: “Delivering a Control room function to three different services, with sometime differing needs, isn’t easy, but as a partnership, we make it happen every day.  This wouldn’t be possible without the backing of everyone involved in the three Thames Valley Fire and Rescue Services.

“It is testament to the hard work of everyone particularly the dedicated Control room staff, that we have a Control room which provides an excellent service to the communities of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.”

“Delivering a Control room function to three different services, with sometime differing needs, isn’t easy, but as a partnership, we make it happen every day.  This wouldn’t be possible without the backing of everyone involved in the three Thames Valley Fire and Rescue Services.”

Simon Harris, Group Manager, TVFCS

Since opening, TVFCS has taken more than 350,000 calls, an average of just under 100 calls per day, and dealt with a wide variety of incidents, all with professionalism under pressure. For example:

• Control operators fielded hundreds of calls throughout the summer of 2022 when Berkshire and Buckinghamshire firefighters dealt with nearly 300 wildfires.
• The collapse of Didcot Power Station on 23 February 2016 resulted in the mobilisation of dozens of firefighters who dealt with the collapse over several hours.
• During the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, Control staff seamlessly adapted their working practices to ensure no break in normal service.

TVFCS is governed by a six-person Joint Committee, comprised of two councillors from each county. Councillor Peter Fewer, Chair of the Joint Committee, said: “I am honoured to lead the governance for this incredibly talented team of people who have done so much to ensure the safety of the people of the Thames Valley. This collaboration has gone from strength to strength and would not have been successful without the professionalism of the dedicated control staff.”

In serving the communities of the Thames Valley, TVFCS uses the most up to date technology, including a mobile location system, which enables control operators to identify the exact geographic location of an incident more quickly and pinpoint the precise position of each available fire engine and officer via GPS.

Wayne Bowcock, Chief Fire Officer, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, commented: “The creation of the Thames Valley Fire Control was an ambitious project which has taken a huge team effort across all three Services over these last ten years.

“The goal was to provide a more resilient, cost-effective and modernised control room service to the people of the Thames Valley, and I am proud that we have delivered over and above that aim.”