Firefighters tonight claimed they were ill equipped to deal with a terrorist attack and slammed planned equipment and training as a "Dad's Army" operation.

Union leaders said they had yet to see any extra equipment promised as part of a £56m Government cash injection to help fire crews cope with worst case scenarios almost 18 months on from September 11.

The claims came as a leaked fire service document revealed only basic preparations for a chemical or biological attack.

The advice document, issued by Cleveland Fire Brigade back in September, says that at present there are "no mitigation facilities and equipment available nationally" and that fire crews will have to rely on existing equipment.

It also describes ad-hoc plans to construct mass decontamination showers consisting of two fire engines parked together with a ladder across the top to which hose reels are attached and used to spray water onto casualties.

Last night Steve Gregg, regional chairman of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said "It's absolutely shocking the state of defence preparedness. We're extremely concerned. "The only equipment we've been given is a couple of bottles of disinfectant, sponges and mops.

"We've been given no specialist equipment or training yet. It really is a Dad's Army operation." John Eldridge, editor of Jane's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defence, said: "Most emergency services are relatively poorly equipped to deal with the kind of terrorism we are now looking at.

"I'd imagine that the Government thinks these decontamination showers are going to be used for civilians but they are designed to deal principally with people who are already in protective suits.

"They are quite limited and only of any use against liquid or solid matter not vapour hazards. "There are also other issues to consider such as will you have the exact space needed to construct one of these things?"

Alan Blacklee, Cleveland branch secretary of the FBU, said firefighters were "very, very concerned" at the present state of affairs.

He said: "At the end of the day if someone dropped a dirty bomb on the Riverside Stadium at Middlesbrough we're the people who will get there first and we haven't got the training or the equipment to deal with that amount of decontamination.

"It's more than a year and a half since the terrorist attack on September 11 and nothing has been done."

Last night the office for Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, said that 190 purpose built decontamination units and 4,000 extra gas tight suits would be rolled out to brigades across the country as part of the £56m investment by the late Spring.

But it comes in the face of a Government emergency working party which, in the aftermath of the Twin Tower terrorist attacks in America, put the cost of providing specialist equipment, extra staff and training to deal with a terrorist strike at around £280m.

A spokesman for John Prescott's office said the £56m injection for the fire service included 80 new vehicles and that the investment was "an on-going process".

Cleveland Fire Authority chairman, Middlesbrough Coun John Jones, said: "If the unions themselves have any worries we want to debate and discuss that with them."