New Emergency Operations Centre Unveiled in Newcastle Today

 BY SAMUEL BARTLETT

Newcastle Council has unveiled a state of the art centre to coordinate the efforts of first responders across the city.

The Local Emergency Operations Centre is designed to be a flexible space allowing customer service and incident response to occur under the same roof. Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes says the centre has been a priority for a while and will assist emergency workers protect the city.

She says, "the principle here for us at council, and that $1.8 million investment into this space, is primarily to support our first responders across the board."

"From fire and rescue, police, to our welfare agencies, if we're supporting them that means our communities is best supported during an emergency."

The new centre is equipped with multiple monitoring screens, showering facilities and kitchen area.

Flexible work-spaces: the customer service area may also be used by emergency responders

Deputy Director of Operations for NSW ambulance Jordan Emery says being able to coordinate all emergency services in one place is vital when there's a major disaster in the city.

"The simple reality of having everyone in a room like this that leverages technology to share information is absolutely crucial to the success of emergency management,

"To have everyone together in this space to have the technology to be able to share the information broadly influences the timeliness of our response to different emergencies."

Jordan Emery at the Newcastle Local Emergency Operations Centre

Kitchen area of the Local Emergency Operations Centre

Free Wi-Fi launched in Newcastle's East End

BY CATHERINE ALLEN

Newcastle is now switched on with the initial launch of a free Wi-Fi network in the city's east end along Wharf Road, Watt Street, and Shortland Esplanade.

 The initiative is part of Newcastle Council's Smart City program that has been designed to increase connectivity and information sharing between businesses, the community, and the digital world.

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes joined the program's coordinator Nathaniel Bavington at this mornings switch on to explain the free network and the future of Newcastle as a Smart City.

"Whether it be for business or leisure, cities the world over are now embracing the ability to offer affordable and accessible internet to residents and visitors so that they can be connected anytime, anywhere," Lord Mayor Nelmes said.

"This is one of many actions contained within our Smart City Strategy that we've invested in, alongside energy-efficient solar projects, electric-vehicle charging stations, driverless vehicle technology, and bike-sharing initiatives.

"This is the first step in our staged roll-out of free Wi-Fi, which will eventually see the whole city connected as well as Beresfield and Wallsend local centres. Today it's Newcastle East, but we're working hard to make sure our new CBD in the West End and areas around Wickham quickly follow. Plans are well and truly advanced for these areas and we hope to make more announcements soon."

The free Wi-Fi service will enable users to log in for 3-hours over a 24-hour period, or equivalently use up to 700 megabytes in data.

The free network will be listed as 'City of Newcastle free Wi-Fi' in your network settings and needs no password.

Smart City Coordinator Nathaniel Bavington (L) and Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes (R).