Firefighters are concerned that their lives could be put at risk if government pressure to adopt mm02's Airwave Tetra network succeeds.

The handsets spark when operated and are not considered intrinsically safe. This is in contrast to competing technologies which do offer safe handsets.

Ian Hudson, fire fighter for the Hartlepool brigade in Cleveland said, "A few years ago two fire fighters died in a house fire after the house exploded the moment they went in. No-one can say this wasn't caused by their unsafe radios."

Hudson argued that fear of explosion would make fire fighters switch off radios and enter dangerous situations with no communication. He said this was lethal and had claimed lives in the past: "It is a serious health and safety issue - you have got to have communication."

Sparking radios are four times cheaper than 'intrinsically safe' radios and Fire Service Inspectorate regulations leave it to fire brigades to choose between them.

Cleveland Fire Brigade uses safe radios as the county contains a large chemical plant, so fire fighters need to avoid risk of explosion. But Hudson argued that all UK brigades need safe radios because even house fires can experience large gas build-ups.

Jeppe Jenson, director of international business at Motorola, mmO2's Airwave partner, confirmed there are no intrinsically safe Tetra radios available and Motorola is not planing to make them. "We are aware there is a need. Motorola does not have a development project."

Transport secretary Stephen Byers will decide this month on a national radio system for fire brigades.

The Department of Transport referred to interoperability issues during September 11 rescue work and claimed the only way to prevent this is by having one radio network for all UK emergency services. As police forces are adopting Airwave radios, it wants the fire brigade to join the same Tetra network.

"It seems ridiculous to consider something that dangerous," Hudson said. "The government is using September 11. We are looking at three different systems that are interoperable with Tetra - I cannot see why we should not use them."The DoT was unavailable for comment as we went to press.
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