WEST EMERGENCY SERVICES HQ FOR CASTLEBAR
By Tom Gillespie
A £3.5 MILLION high-tech headquarters for the emergency services in the West of Ireland is to be sited in Castlebar.
The Computer Aided Mobilisation Project (CAMP-WEST) facility will be used by the fire services in the five Connaught counties and Donegal and will also accommodate the Western Health Board to govern the call-out and direction of the Board's ambulance fleet.
Twenty jobs will be provided at the centre, the capital costs of which will be met by the Government while the day-to-day running costs of £600,000 per year, will be shared by the fire services in the six counties and by the WHB.
CAMP-WEST will be one of three regional control centres, the others being located in Dublin and Limerick. It will be located on a site provided by Mayo County Council adjacent to the fire brigade headquarters in the town and leading onto the N5.
Mayo Chief Fire Officer, Seamus Murphy has outlined the need for the development to members of Mayo County Council. The existing system of mobilisation depended on a twenty-four a dat telephone answering service in the homes of Station Officers and Sub-Officers.
- "Changes in the work practices of householders have made it increasingly problematic to maintain a system of mobilisation as we now know it", he said.
- "Five authorities are striving to provide efficient and effective fire services and the use of new technology and systems will help us achieve this."
He said the CAMP-WEST project would provide a framework which would ensure that the emergency services could take full advantage of the new technology and it would also allow services to maximise the use of their resources in order to provide a better quality of service to the community.
Connaught Telegraph - News - February 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sport - February 1996
