AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into a woman's death yesterday during a 999 control room breakdown.

The 67-year-old, who is not being named, died while waiting for an ambulance after a power cut sparked a fire alert, knocking out the control room's high-tech telecommunications system - for the second time in a week.

Unable to raise the Tees East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Ten-yas), a frantic telephone operator responding to the diverted 999 call summoned Cleveland Fire Brigade.

A fire engine was despatched from the Grangetown fire station with a defibrillator on board, but arrived at the pensioner's house - on Middlesbrough's Overfields housing estate - too late to help.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: "An incident did take place causing us to evacuate.

"During that time a call was received where the outcome is that a patient died. Investigations are taking place into what happened, causing the evacuation and the subsequent actions regarding the transfer of all other telecommunications to alternative locations."

Tenyas said the two-pronged investigation would look at the cause of the evacuation and re-routing of 999 calls to a York headquarters control room and into how the 999 call was "lost".

Grangetown Station Officer Paul Beeforth said: "I think the reason we attended was because the control room had to be evacuated and they could not confirm whether paramedics had received the call or not, or whether they were mobile or not."

In fact, he said the paramedics had received the call and arrived two or three minutes after the fire crew.

"Basically, we worked together in an attempt to revive this lady," Mr Beeforth added. "Sadly, there was nothing we could do."

Firefighters on Teesside are currently threatening strike action over moves by Cleveland Fire Brigade to force them to share control room facilities with the police and Tenyas. The centre is based at Cleveland Police force's Middlesbrough headquarters.

The Fire Brigades Union and its members have warned lives are at risk.

Firefighters were summoned to yesterday's control room incident, which caused it to be evacuated for an hour.

A Police spokesman said: "Portable cooling units caused a fault which triggered the alarm. There was an automatic release from the fire extinguisher system and as a result the building was evacuated for a time and the (police) control room moved to Park Road South."

The pensioner's family were too upset to talk last night.