MPS warned that lives were being put at risk as they stepped up their campaign against £3m cuts to a fire service that protects the region's chemical industry.
Dari Taylor, MP for Stockton South, and Vera Baird, MP for Redcar, spoke out after a series of crisis meetings with Government ministers failed to force a U-turn.
Both MPs accused the department for communities and local government (DCLG) of failing to recognise the extra financial cost of safeguarding Teesside's many chemical plants.
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And they warned the worst-case scenario was a depleted fire brigade unable to respond effectively to a huge fire spreading to nearby villages.
Ms Taylor said: "They are cutting back an essential service, and we are all very concerned about the capability if a serious accident was to occur.
"If there is a serious chemical fire, this funding settlement creates a greater risk for both the lives of firefighters and those of ordinary people."
Ms Baird, a Government minister in her post as solicitor general, said: "We have the biggest chemical industry in Europe, an intensive, dangerous presence that is currently very well-protected.
"But, if there was a disaster, I'm concerned it would be a huge, mindblowing disaster - something that would make the Buncefield fire look like striking a match."
Fire chiefs on Teesside warned as long ago as December that it might have to close stations and cut crew numbers because of a predicted multi-million pound deficit.
Cleveland Fire Brigade will receive only a one per cent funding increase for the financial year starting next week, because of changes in government funding rules.
The below-inflation deal - adding up to £3m cut over the three years of the funding settlement - united the fire authority's management and unions in opposition.
MPs, who complained that other parts of Britain were receiving funding increases of up to seven per cent, met with local government ministers John Healey and Parmjit Dhanda.
But, as April 1 approaches, ministers have stuck to their insistence that
Cleveland will still be the best-funded brigade on a per-capita basis.
The only hope is that the DCLG will agree to increase capital funding to plug the gap until the next three-year settlement, but it failed to return calls to The Northern Echo yesterday.
Cleveland chief fire officer John Doyle has also warned of "cuts which would be bound to affect our ability to respond to both the needs of local communities and industry".
Meanwhile, Ms Taylor warned that the brigade was also faced with cutting back its work to prevent fires, including its Life Programme aimed at young people.
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