Steven McLinden

Transformation2020 Digital Program Manager at Mid and West Wales Fire & Rescue Service

Speaker

Steve is a professional firefighter with over 30 years operational experience and is responsible for delivery of the ‘Transformation2020 Digitisation (T20)’ programme within Mid and West Wales Fire & Rescue Service.

Steve started his career in Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service where he progressed to the rank of Station Officer undertaking various operational, technical and training roles before transferring to Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service as Head of Technical Services in 2005.

He has headed up several departments within the service and also spent 2 ½ years seconded to the Welsh Government as Assistant Fire and Rescue Advisor for Wales where he developed the National Fire and Rescue Framework; The Guiding Principles for Dwelling Fire Response and the Operational Assurance of Service Delivery processes.

In 2016 Steve set up the services Air Support Unit and led the project to introduce Drones into the Fire and Rescue Service. Steve’s role is to drive innovation and to exploit technology to improve Firefighter safety and the business processes of the organisation.

Within the T20 programme he is currently leading the GovTech Challenge to develop ‘instantly deployable real time tracking of fire fighters within buildings at incidents’ and developing ‘intelligent management of operational assets’ through exploiting RFID technologies and artificial intelligence, both projects are grant funded by Innovate UK and Y Lab / Nesta respectively. Through this innovate approach to reimagining technology in the Fire and Rescue Context he hopes to improve and enhance current and future achievements of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and the wider first responder sector.