PLANS to carry out a fire risk assessment for Teesside have prompted fears for future emergency cover in the area.

Cleveland Fire Brigade is pledging to consult widely on plans to develop an Integrated Risk Management Plan, the most radical change to take place in the fire service in more than 50 years.

Brigade executive director Ian Hayton said current fire plans were based on "outdated'' emergency responses and on fire risk assessment of buildings, not people.

Councillor John Jones, chairman of Cleveland Fire Authority, said: "Society will be safer as the plan will put people first, consider risks arising from all emergency incidents, and the options for reduction and management.

"This is not an exercise to make savings. The final plan could result in savings, but could equally result in a redistribution of resources, or even require more financial investment."

But the Fire Brigades Union fears the review could prove to be a way of reducing fire cover.

Steve Gregg, a regional representative for the union, said: "We have real fears about fire cover. Fire cover will become budget-driven.

"We respond to every emergency immediately at the moment. We would think the public would expect that to continue but the talk now is of prioritising.''

He said fire brigades across the UK had registered a 15 per cent rise in emergency calls last year, which represented a need for more investment, not less.

A Government directive has meant that all fire authorities have to draw up risk assessments by the end of the year.

Mr Hayton said: "Current fire service plans are based on outdated emergency responses developed in 1947. These standards are based on a fire risk assessment of buildings and take no reasoned account of people, or real-life risk in society.

"They do not include incidents such as road traffic accidents, chemical incidents, trapped people or flooding.

"New plans will consider all life risks in the community and develop effective community safety based on reliable data."