Victoria’s upgraded State Control Centre

An emergency services centre is the heart of a network of incident and regional control centres across the state.

Prior to the 2012/13 fire season, the Victorian State Control Centre (SCC) underwent a significant refurbishment to further improve interoperability and information flow between emergency service agencies before, during and after a major emergency. The SCC is the hub of a network of incident and regional control centres across the state that support emergency services personnel on the ground during major emergencies such as fire and flood.

The SCC’s new layout has improved information flow with personnel from different agencies now working side by side in areas such as planning, logistics, intelligence and mapping. This arrangement helps ensure the most up-to-date information in relation to an emergency is available to inform emergency management decisions. Real-time information is now displayed prominently in the operations area using audiovisual equipment, improving the situational awareness of everyone involved in the management of an incident.

Information flow to the community has also been improved through the dedicated media and warnings and advice area, which is responsible for disseminating timely and relevant warnings to communities under the threat of fire or other emergency. This area is also responsible for providing information to Victoria’s emergency broadcasters, which interrupt their programs to pass on those messages to the community.

Other improvements to the centre include addressing issues identified in the 2011 Floods review, including the installation of a single phone system and streamlining the different IT and communication systems used in the centre to make information sharing between agencies easier and more efficient. Previously there were five different phone systems in the SCC and four IT systems.

The newly refurbished Victorian State Control Centre.

Most recently more work has been undertaken on the centre’s purpose-built media conference room, which is integral to helping get important emergency management messages out to the community. The room now has better equipment to facilitate media conferences and live-to-air broadcasts by media outlets.

New management arrangements also provide clarity about the purpose, role and design of the SCC.

Management of the SCC transitioned from the Department of Sustainability and Environment to the Fire Services Commissioner on 1 July 2012.

The Fire Services Commissioner now has management responsibility for the SCC in conjunction with CFA, the Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victoria Police and the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure.

The new management arrangements provide clear command and control structure for state emergencies and promote greater collaboration and interoperability across government.

The use of the refreshed SCC has been very successful over the 2012/13 fire season.