FIRE chiefs in the North-East are considering radical proposals which could see all the region's brigades sharing one control room.

The idea is being explored as part of the integrated risk management programme which the Government has ordered all brigades to carry out.

If adopted, a regional control room could be set up for the four North-East brigades - County Durham and Darlington, Cleveland, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

North Yorkshire would share a control room with other brigades in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The news comes a year after the country's first national firefighters' strike for 25 years began.

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is setting up a specialist team to consider the proposals.

Community safety officer Dave Turnbull said: "Durham county has never been adverse to jumping in with both feet flying. We always look at ways of improving. The control room could be for the whole of the North-East or it could be just for two brigades. It has been identified as one of several possibilities.

"If it does come off it will not be something that's happening next year. It will be some way down the line."

Cleveland Fire Brigade will begin sharing a control room at Ladgate Lane, Middlesbrough, with police and the ambulance service in January.

Brigade director Paul Joyce said a regional control room would not be something Cleveland would press for.

"We have looked at the best combination for us and we have achieved it," he said.

A spokesman for the Tyne and Wear brigade said: "It's something we will consider along with everything else."

North Yorkshire's chief fire officer Eric Clark said the proposals would be considered.

But he added that two years ago, when a review on the subject was carried out, the fire authority concluded it did not want a regionalised service.