ALL emergency calls to the fire service in Wiltshire and Dorset will now be answered in one place as a merger between the two services moved a step closer.

Yesterday saw the opening of a joint control centre in Potterne, near Devizes, and is the first joint function between the two services.

The merger was agreed by the respective fire authorities last year, in a move they said would avoid both brigades going bankrupt due to rising costs and falling funding.

It was agreed to use the new centre because it was more up-to-date than the old Dorset centre, with a number of staff having moved to Wiltshire, according to a spokesman for the Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

“Another significant landmark has been reached on the road to the new Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service coming into being in April 2016," he said.

“As of Wednesday, all 999 calls for both counties are now answered by the new Service Control Centre, based at Potterne near Devizes.

“Over a dozen Dorset Control staff have joined colleagues from Wiltshire in the control centre, which is the first formal bringing together of functions within the new Service.

“Elected members from both existing fire authorities agreed unanimously in December 2013 to combine the two control rooms.”

The new control room will link with other control rooms in the South West using a new programme, the spokesman said, meaning five brigades can communicate more easily, allowing them to respond more efficiently in major events.

“The new control centre has been made possible because of the Networked Fire Control Services Partnership, which is joining Potterne with the emergency Control Rooms in Eastleigh in Hampshire and Exeter in Devon,” said the spokesman.

“Once Devon go live with the same technology at the end of September, we will all be able to mobilise appliances for one another when needed, giving us far greater resilience.”

The merger was agreed after it emerged both services were facing huge financial black-holes. Wiltshire was facing a deficit of just over £4 million, with the fire chief Simon Routh-Jones saying it would run of money by 2018 if something did not change.

To avoid massive cuts to frontline services, it was agreed Wiltshire and Dorset should join together as they were similar forces, both broadly covering a large rural area.

By working together it is believed that as a much larger combined service, it will be able to purchase equipment at a cheaper rate and join together certain operations, such as the control room.

The final merger is set to be completed by April 1, 2016.