A county fire and rescue service has introduced 160 body-worn cameras to support firefighter safety and enhance operational decision-making.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service is deploying the technology to enable live streaming from incident scenes directly to the control room, improving situational awareness and supporting more effective deployments. The footage captured will be reviewed to identify learning opportunities and inform future operational practice. Since the rollout in December, almost 100 hours of footage across more than 500 video recordings have been securely stored.

Scott Norman, deputy chief fire officer, said: "When the opportunity arose to use body-worn video as one of the first [services] in the Eastern region to do so, we took that opportunity because we could see the benefits for our crews and our communities."

The initiative has been funded by Norfolk County Council and is intended to strengthen early risk identification, improve communication with control and partner emergency services, and support continuous improvement.

The recordings will also be used as a structured learning resource, allowing incidents to be reviewed to assess operational responses and share best practice across crews.

Cameron Dowie, crew manager, at Carrow station, said: "Having the opportunity to step back and provide some footage after the incident of what other crews are doing as a way of sharing some good work, some positive work and potentially some things we could do better is always is going to be invaluable."

He added while it was not the main purpose of the equipment for Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, the technology also helps crews feel safer.

"One of the great privileges of being a firefighter is that the vast majority of our interactions with the community are positive ones. We are welcomed into people's homes, we are trusted to help people in really difficult circumstances.

"In the highly unlikely event we did have any kind of unwelcome behaviour towards crews absolutely it is another thing that just makes us a little more safe while we are out and doing our jobs."

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