What can Multitone offer fire & rescue services?

Multitone’s technology is already used by around 85% of Fire & Rescue Services throughout the UK. This remarkable level of adoption is due to the reliability, adaptability and cost-effectiveness of our systems, as well as the UK-based expert technical support we provide.

In a nutshell, Multitone’s technology provides each fire station with a tried-and-tested, robust and automated system for quickly mobilising firefighters to the scene of an emergency. As soon as an emergency call out arrives from HQ, Multitone’s technology enacts a number of pre-programmed actions – which can vary depending on the station’s needs. This typically involves paging on-call firefighters in the local area, switching on station lights, printing information, displaying it on computer screens and unlocking doors – all of which works to bring firefighters into the station and then out of the front door as quickly as possible. The system reports back to HQ to confirm that everything’s working as it should, and warns it if it hasn’t.

You might be surprised to learn that fire services are still using pagers, but there are some very good reasons for this. Paging works by transmitting from a dedicated, stand-alone transmitter in the station and this is completely independent of the public cellular networks. These transmitters have a broadcast radius of around 10 miles and are more effective at reaching people inside buildings, where mobile reception can be weak even in urban centres, and in rural areas, where the phone signals may be intermittent or non-existent.

These local paging systems are also much more resilient than public mobile networks. For one, mobile networks are susceptible to technical problems. They can also be easily overloaded should large numbers of people attempt to use their phones simultaneously – which is more likely to be the case during an emergency. Finally, in a severe regional or national crisis, where mobile networks, the internet or national power grids may be disrupted, pagers will continue to work as the transmitters will operate on backup power and are independent of other methods of communication. For these reasons, paging is here to stay.

For emergency services, resiliency is absolutely key – and that’s what Multitone’s technology provides, supplying both the individual pagers and the paging transmitter. Our control unit is supplied with two emergency batteries, ensuring the system continues to operate in the event of a power failure. And it’s extremely flexible too – able to control a wide range of devices, including printers and lights.

An RNLI Tyne Class lifeboat in action in the Irish Sea.

Our technology can also interface with third-party software and hardware. This means we’re able to provide a solution that fits with each individual fire service’s requirements. In fact, as well as having most fire services as customers, the RNLI relies on our technology for emergency mobilisation too.

But the world doesn’t stand still, and neither does our offering for emergency services. We’re introducing low-power signal repeaters for paging systems to boost their range past any geographical obstacles as well as reach outlying housing estates in urban areas – in recognition of the fact that many firefighters are having to live further away from their stations. We can also offer 2-way pagers, enabling firefighters to confirm to their station that they’re on their way.

In addition to our paging and station systems solutions, we can offer our fully integrated Multitone Crew App – a secure method for each fire station team to receive alerts and communicate with their smartphones.

To find out more about Multitone’s solutions, our work with emergency services and what we can offer your organisation, whether it’s a hospital, fire service, property management company or nursing home, get in touch with us.