Hampshire FRS to be ‘fully digital’ by August

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is deploying 1,000 Motorola Solutions MOTOTRBO radios to its firefighters.

The devices, according to the company, will provide push-to-talk, integrated accelerometers for man-down protection, Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi.

As well as the handheld units, Hampshire is also rolling Motorola’s WAVE 5000 product to its command support vehicles. This will enable simultaneous access to both the UK’s dedicated public safety TETRA network Airwave, and Hampshire’s own DMR talk group.

Peter Clarke, station manager operational technologies for Hampshire FRS, said: “The safety of our citizens and wellbeing of our firefighters is of paramount importance to us. That’s why we’ve chosen to upgrade our communications equipment to an advanced digital system. We aim to be fully digital by August.

“As a fire and rescue service, we cover 1,455 square miles. We therefore require a communication service which can provide an enhanced level of safety, clarity and functionality, and is also simple and intuitive to use.”

Motorola Solutions MSSSI vice president Phil Jefferson said: “We launched the MOTOTRBO ten years ago and are now on our third generation of devices. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is an example of how public safety organisations are turning to MOTOTRBO to connect teams effortlessly and efficiently wherever they work.”