Rob Cherrie, Director of Emergency Response, (second from left) presented a cake to our Control Room staff to celebrate International Control Room Week.
It’s International Control Room Week (October 21 to 27) and we want to highlight the vital role our call handlers play in dealing with life-threatening and high-pressure situations every day.
Our Control Room is operational 24/7 and our highly trained staff deal with calls reporting everything from house fires and water rescues to serious collisions and animal rescues.
Working in Control, you never know who is at the end of the phone and every call requires unwavering levels of professionalism and compassion.
It’s a hugely rewarding career that offers the chance to make a lasting difference to people’s lives and some of our incredible staff have been in the role almost 40 years.
And this year is extra special for the Service as a whole, as we mark 50 years since County Durham and Darlington joined together to make CDDFRS.
On April 1, 1948, a fire service covering the whole of County Durham was first established.
In 1974, a reorganisation brought Darlington into partnership with County Durham so that County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) was officially created.
To mark the milestone, our Chief Fire Officer Steve Helps visited the archives and looked through the incredible incident record books from 1948 to 1986 which were kept by those working in our Control Room.
These books will be on display at our HQ this week for our Control Room staff to look through.
Chief Fire Officer Steve Helps said: “The way our Control Room operates has changed greatly over the years but one thing that remained the same is the hard working and dedicated staff we employ.
“Our Control teams work around the clock every day of the year to ensure that every call for help is answered.
“They are the unseen frontline of our emergency service and without them, we would be unable to deploy firefighters to the exact location where they are needed or provide life-saving advice to those on the end of the phone.
“Our Control Room staff are our unsung heroes, so we hope everyone joins in with celebrating and recognising the amazing work they do on this very special week.”
