This is the new regional control center of the fire brigade
Curved lines, warm colors and large windows: This is how the new regional control center of the fire brigade in Nordstadt presents itself. District President Steffen Krach (SPD) and Hanover’s Lord Mayor Belit Onay (Greens) finally officially inaugurated the multi-million dollar project on Thursday after years of construction delays. Since last week, thousands of emergency calls and operations have been coordinated from Weidendamm. With the storms “Ylenia”, “Zeynep” and “Antonia” the first endurance test is already behind her.
“We want the best and most modern working environment to coordinate the fastest possible help on site,” said Onay. According to Krach, the control center is finally solving the problem that its predecessor had been working over its limit for more than a decade: “We have that in common.”
300,000 uses a year
The old system in the historical guard at Goetheplatz was for 160,000 repetitions, which was already exceeded in 2009. The rescuers in the region now have to coordinate around 300,000 operations a year. In terms of area, the area of responsibility is as large as that of Saarland, measured against the 1.2 million inhabitants it is even larger.
From now on, up to 19 dispatchers will be coordinating operations in the region and in some cases throughout Lower Saxony. “Should it be necessary spontaneously, all tables are occupied in 60 seconds,” said Rohrberg. Since this is a workplace “where the light never goes out”, the fire brigade places high demands on ergonomics: All tables are height-adjustable, there are armchairs – and a blue chronobiological ceiling light can be switched on at night. That makes the dispatchers perk up again. Rohrberg: “It’s like drinking an espresso.” According to Onay, the new control center is now “among the top 5” nationwide.
Modern control center: Bare artificial intelligence?
Rohrberg doesn’t want to think about that anymore, and Krach and Onay don’t comment on it either – presumably because the final accounts are still not available. “I don’t want to see where we’re coming from,” said the fire chief, and instead spoke of the new: Automatic emergency calls from modern cars (e-calls) or drone live videos, for example from major fires, can now be processed. There is also an interface to the deaf emergency call app “Nora”. And many innovations will follow: Rohrberg, for example, promises artificial intelligence that can eventually help translate foreign-language emergency calls. “We have to keep our finger on the pulse.”
And completely unplanned, the new control center went through its first stress test: the past storm weekend with more than 3000 calls within a day and a half. Normal is 700 to 1000 in 24 hours. “Of course we didn’t choose that,” said Rohrberg. But it showed what the crew and new technology are capable of. “It’s proven.” Or, as Belit Onay more aptly acknowledged, “She’s storm tested.”
By Peer Hellerling