THE prospect of soldiers fighting fires on North-East streets has been averted after an 11th-hour U-turn by fire brigade bosses headed off a strike.

The climbdown by Cleveland Fire Brigade came in the face of demands which brought Teesside - with its concentration of petro-chemical sites - to the brink of an all-out strike by firefighters.

A ballot result, which had been due today, was anticipated to show an overwhelming vote for a stoppage over moves to have Cleveland Fire Brigade share a control room with police and ambulance staff.

A contingency plan included the return of the Army's green goddess fire engines to the streets for the first time since the national firemen's strike 25 years ago.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) had voted for a strike ballot, claiming that lives would be put at risk if all three emergency services were made to share one control room.

Two recent evacuations of the control room - currently shared by Cleveland Police and the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service - reinforced these fears.

Cleveland Fire Authority has now withdrawn proposals to transfer fire control to the shared facility at police HQ and will now work with the FBU to consider alternatives.

Authority chairwoman Councillor Brenda Forster said: "We have listened to all views on this issue and the overwhelming message to us has been to avoid even the slightest possibility of putting lives at risk because of industrial action."

The brigade's executive director, Ian Hayton, said: "The recent serious industrial relations issue brought us to the brink of possible strike action and there is no doubt that this could have cost lives, threatened the economic future of the area and undermined public support."

FBU branch secretary Alan Blacklee said: "The reason we took action was to protect lives. We are pleased management have had some semblance of common sense.