A MOTORIST became the first North-East person to die during the firefighters' strike last night when two cars were involved in an horrific crash.

One of the cars exploded in the collison which happened close to Teesside International Airport, near Darlington.

A military fire team was immediately scrambled to the scene, but by the time they arrived - after a fire crew from the airport had put out the blaze - the motorist had already burned to death.

Officials stressed last night that the outcome would have been the same even if a modern fire appliance had responded.

Two other victims were critically ill in hospital last night. Two more, including a man in his 30s, were listed as serious at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Teesside Airport spokes-man John Waiting said: "One of our firefighters saw the explosion from the crash and we immediately responded."

Police were still investigating last night but sources said the two vehicles had been travelling in opposite directions.

Military controllers confirmed that an Army Green Goddess had been sent to the scene.

The accident happened on the A67 which runs parallel with the airport.

It was the second fatality since the strike began at 6pm. Earlier, a 76-year-old woman died after a house fire in Newtown, mid-Wales which broke out only an hour after the strike began.

The woman died in hospital despite a Green Goddess arriving within nine minutes. Firefighters also left their picket line at the main fire station in Newtown and went to the house, according to union sources.

The Welsh tragedy heightened fears that military firefighters may not be able to cope - especially in the North-East where their task was made worse by the flood of hoaxes.

Army officials said they had received more than 70 hoaxes within two hours of the start of Britain's first national fire strike in 25 years.

Last night, they described the situation as "appalling" and warned lives would be lost unless the 999 hoaxers were stopped.

The first cruel prank came within minutes of full-time firefighters clocking off as the 48-hour strike began at 6pm last night.

A member of the public phoned in a fake house fire, in Park Road, North Ormesby, near Middlesbrough.

At 7pm, an anonymous member of the public made a hoax call for a house fire in Bedford Street, Darlington.

Five minutes later, the crew stationed at Bishop Auckland, County Durham, went to a second non-existent fire at a house in Proudfoot Drive on the Woodhouse Close estate.

Meanwhile on Tyneside, telephone switchboards were swamped with wave after wave of prank calls which left police and Army crews exhausted.

An Army spokesman at the emergency services' joint operations centre said: "The false alarm calls have placed our crews under an even greater strain and they are putting people's lives at risk.

"It's appalling. We are stretched to the limit and people are sending us off on wild goose chases."

The North-East, which is normally covered by 170 fire fighters ,was last night being protected by 51 military crews driving 50-year-old Green Goddesses. In North Yorkshire, there were only nine military tenders and four teams equipped with breathing apparatus.

It was not clear last night how many part-time fire fighters - who do not belong to the FBU -would be prepared to support them.

North Yorkshire has a high percentage of part-time crews who cover the most remote areas of the county.

The first genuine call in the North-East came in Stockton, Teesside, where an Army crew had to tackle a fire in a recycling bin outside a supermarket.

Elsewhere across the region, makeshift picket lines sprung up as striking fire crews demonstrated in support of their pay claim.