U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency Equips Maritime Firefighting Teams With Iridium Satellite Phones

The United Kingdom’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has equipped its newly formed firefighting teams with Iridium satellite phones to provide reliable communications when responding to fires on ships in U.K. coastal waters.

The MCA’s Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) was formed in April to provide a force of highly trained teams capable of being deployed by helicopter at short notice to fires and other emergencies on ships at sea. The MIRG consists of approximately 700 firefighters based at 15 stations strategically located around the coasts of England and Scotland. It is the U.K.’s first specialized fire and rescue service created specifically for large-scale incidents at sea, and is one of the first of its kind in the world.

The Iridium satellite phones and accessories are packaged in a hardened, floating Pelican Case and are constantly maintained in a “ready-to-go” state at each station. The equipment and satellite airtime are being supplied by Applied Satellite Technology (AST), an official Iridium service provider.

Mervyn Kettle, MIRG project manager, said, “The Iridium satellite phones will provide voice and short messaging to enhance the command and control capability between the operational commander onboard the casualty and shore-based resources. They will supplement the primary VHF radio nets with rescue authorities ashore.”

“The Iridium satphones will provide an important margin of safety for our teams,” Kettle added. “We will never leave any crew isolated on a burning ship at sea unable to communicate. Often, MIRG teams will deploy to locations beyond the reach of VHF radio or GSM phones, and in many cases the ship’s mains may be knocked out by fire or explosion, disabling the installed radio and satellite systems.”

The MIRG units had their first operational deployment in May, responding to a fire on the cruise ship, Calypso, in the English Channel about 20 miles off the south coast of England. “This incident proved the value of the Iridium satellite phones beyond a doubt,” said Kettle.

“Iridium provides a robust and reliable mobile communication solution for these specialized fire and rescue professionals working in extremely hazardous conditions,” said Harvey Hipperson, Iridium sales manager at AST. “Iridium’s unique architecture of low-earth orbiting (LEO) satellites intersecting over the poles ensures seamless global coverage, even for teams operating in high latitudes off the north of Scotland, using standardized equipment and procedures.”

Don Thoma, executive vice president of Iridium Satellite, said, “Iridium has become firmly established as a premier supplier of dependable, long-range, ship-to-shore communications for the world’s maritime industry. Although Iridium’s non-marine business has grown rapidly over the last two years, the maritime sector remains one of our most important core markets and continues to show rapid growth.”

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