FIREFIGHTERS across the Cleveland brigade are threatening strike action because they have been told they must cover for ambulance crews in heart attack cases.

For the past two years, Cleveland Fire Brigade has said firefighters must cover for ambulances if the paramedics cannot reach the patient within the eight-minute target.

But the firefighters believe it is nothing more than a way of ensuring that performance figures at Tees East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service are positive.

They are threatening industrial action if the situation is not resolved because they argue that people's lives are at risk while fire engines are attending medical cases.

The brigade says fire crews are only used in cases when ambulances cannot get there in the specific time.

Union bosses have given the brigade until Monday, April 15 to address their concerns and if they are not happy with the results they say they will ballot members on industrial action.

Medical experts say the chances of saving someone's life can be increased by as much as 80 per cent if an automatic defibrillator can be used. Union officers say the defibrillators are important but should only be used when supporting firefighters in their work and not become more routine than saving people from fire.