THE article Costs increasing for fire service merger (October 22) states that of the current 160 jobs at the current control centre at Fire HQ in Hinchingbrooke, 100 jobs will go. This is incorrect. We employ 24 full-time staff and two part-time employe

THE article "Costs increasing for fire service merger" (October 22) states that of the current 160 jobs at the current control centre at Fire HQ in Hinchingbrooke, 100 jobs will go. This is incorrect.

We employ 24 full-time staff and two part-time employees. As our staff are based in the county in which the regional control centre is being built, it is likely that many of these will be able to re-locate. If this is not possible, or if staff do not wish to do this, we will endeavour to keep redundancies to a minimum.

The regional control centre project is central to the Government's overall Fire and Resilience Programme and has been set up to react to the threats we face as a nation, including extreme weather events, large scale accidents or terrorism. The RCCs will benefit from better technology, including the ability to pinpoint a person's location from their mobile phone or landline number. It will also give control room staff better career structures and working conditions.

The cost of the regional control centre is being met by central Government and not from Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service budgets. This is new money and we welcome the investment.

As chief fire officer for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, I will not allow our control room function to transfer to the new regional centre until I am confident it will operate as expected.

GRAHAM STAGG

Chief fire officer

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service